Mama is a student
by Babyuknowme13
Summary: The art of interrogation is a subtle one, but one no one thought she could master. Naome smiles from the shadows as her family and skills grow, waiting to have her face on the mountain. Hiding her involvment with missing nin and protecting her son, whilst falling for one lazy shinobi though? Well she'll just have to deal with it, after all, she's a future hokage.
1. Whirlwind Days

LC; I was just struck by a bolt of pure inspiration!

Naruto; Dear kami, may I ask what this idea is?

LC; Yes, yes you may.

Naruto;...

Sasuke;...Well?

LC; You asked if you could ask but you never did actually ask.

Naruto; Will you please tell us your idea?

LC; Alright! I have a few choice words for ya! Ten, rape, baby!

Sasuke; O.O

Naruto; O\\\O

LC; Ooohh! You like that idea eh? Kinky!

Naruto; NNNOOOOOO!

LC; MWUAHAHAHAHA!

Disclaimer; I do not own Naruto! However his illegitamate love child is fucking mine! Don't you dare steal this idea!

Chapter 1; Unlucky number 10.

October tenth, surely a worse day never existed for this one subject under Kami's ruling. Nope, Naome did not like October tenth, the day of the Kyuubi's attack ten years ago and her birthday.  
>It would be more accurate to state that she abso-fucking-lutely hated it in fact. Much more accurate.<p>

So if she hated this day so fiercely, why then could she be found outside on a day that no doubt called for sitting in the darkest corner of her apartment?  
>Well, it might have something to do with the large pillar of smoke and fire coming from the Red Light district, where she lived.<p>

Why would a child live in the Red Light district of any village, much less one with such a prestigious standing, you ask? Well, she doesn't really know.  
>Oh she knows the normal facts, like no landlord would let her into their buildings in the better parts of town. She also knew that tiny apartment with barely any rooms was all she could afford on her measly stipend.<p>

She thought though that it was because she was an orphan, so she was automatically given the worst things a body had to offer for her.

Back to the subject of October tenth and her building's untimely demise though. She had meant to stay in her building all day and night long, but it seemed some of the more rowdy neighbors had other ideas.  
>At least they didn't know about the secret trap door she installed that let her out to the roof. She might have been in trouble then.<p>

Getting off the building was no trouble at all for any academy student, even one as low in the brackets as herself.  
>So now she found herself hiding behind a bill board for topical cream watching the smoke drifting up the sky and the shinobi running around and trying to put it out.<p>

She felt moderately bad about that, mainly because these were no ordinary shinobi. These were the ANBU and the one they answered to, the Hokage.  
>Hokage-sama was the only one who cared for her at all, and she knew that up until a month ago he hadn't even known where she lived. When he did find out she had witnessed the utter fury of an aged war-hardened kage.<p>

Back to the present predicament of not wishing to give away her hiding place but knowing the old man was worried for her.  
>It was a strange concept that, no one felt worry for anyone else in the Red Light district, least of all for her. Not to mention he didn't act the same with every orphan either. All in all it slightly bothered her that he turned his attentions to her, it wasn't the norm.<p>

She had just made the decision to step out and calm the worried old man when she felt arms encircle her waist and a cloth clamped over her mouth and nose.  
>A smell that in normal circumstances would have made her feel sick was all she registered before collapsing into the mysterious man's arms, unable to stay awake.<p>

The man hefted her over his shoulder and darted away to the shadows, eager to complete what so long ago the Yondaime started.

Many hours later, a groan alerted him that his charge had awakened and a grin spread across his face as her's twisted in horror.  
>It would only be thirty minutes but they seemed hours to the poor child before he finally grew fatigued and passed out beside her.<p>

Sniffing away more tears as she gently closed her legs, Naome instantly turned to the man to see if he would stir.  
>He hadn't tied her very tightly, it seemed the man was only a civilian. These knots would hold a normal girl, but she was training to be a kunoichi and considered these knots rather insulting.<p>

She knew what had happened, she knew that she'd never have that same innocence again; it was a danger hazard for all women in the Red Light district.  
>What she did not know though, was that since she had already become a woman earlier than most, one seed managed to find that egg. Her maturing body would be at fault for what she later would call the most unexpected surprise of her life.<p>

She limped away from the man and briefly looked back, unsure what to do about him. Wasn't she supposed to call the police or something? After the Uchiha massacre though, ANBU had been called in to deal with these kinds of situations.  
>What was more, unless the Sandaime set specific guidelines, the ANBU hardly treated her with anything bordering decency.<p>

In the end she turned away and limped as best she could up the stairs, happy to see moving around seemed to ease the pain somewhat.

Meanwhile, Hiruzen sighed in relief as he saw through his orb the young girl carefully easing out of an old shed she must have used as shelter.  
>He would need to do something about her lodgings, but for now he watched her trek to the academy to start another day on her quest for his hat. Perhaps he could 'lose' some money where she would find it?<p>

Naome Uzumaki got to class earlier than her classmates, but she saw this as a blessing and settled down at her desk and slipped into a slumber unhindered by nightmares.  
>When she awoke again, it was to find that two fangirls, Ino and Sakura, were again fighting for the seat next to Sasuke Uchiha, the last survivor of the massacre.<p>

Fidgeting slightly in her seat, she turned her thoughts away from Konoha's history and to more important matters.  
>She would no doubt have more difficulty finding a new apartment now that her's had burned down. After all, what landlord wants that risk? She also had no money with which to rent one, or food, or extra clothing for that matter.<p>

Slumping slightly at the thought of sleeping in an alley tonight, she attempted to turn her attention to trap setting.  
>Normally this would be enough to drive her out of any civilian induced funk, but today she just couldn't make herself get lost in the ins and outs of pulleys and trip wires. Not even the possibility of pranks or ramen made her crack a smile that day.<p>

Strangely enough, she found a small fortune outside after the final bell, seemingly dropped by a careless citizen.  
>She would normally try asking if anyone had dropped it, but chose not to as a smell wafted to her nose. Ichiraku ramen after a long two days of no food would do wonders for her spirits, surely.<p>

After eating what may very well have been her weight in noodles, she went back to the district and started what she feared would be a fruitless search for an apartment.  
>She started at the most rundown apartment she could find, and amazingly enough struck gold. As it seemed, the landlady was willing to sell the admittedly tiny complex for just the amount in her little bag.<p>

The lady relinquished the papers and when questioned said she was moving from Konoha because she couldn't make a decent business anymore due to her age.  
>Instantly realizing this woman had been a corner girl, Naome didn't ask any more questions and only signed on the dotted line as directed.<p>

"Good luck gaki." The old woman sighed as she hefted a last bag onto her cart and slapped the reins onto the horse's backside.  
>Naome hesitantly waved a farewell before going inside to inspect her new property.<p>

"Least I don't have to pay rent anymore." She mumbled, content with this turn of events. Who knew she'd get not one apartment, but the whole complex for the low low price of 500,000 yen. She even still had enough left over to afford instant ramen until she got her next stipend!

Settling down into the landlady's office, as she now had to live there since she owned the building, she decided to practice her new jutsu.  
>After all, henge jutsu sounded really cool and kawarimi had saved her life already once! If she used henge, maybe people wouldn't overcharge her for things!<p>

Unknown to all but herself, this started what would aid her in taking care of the little bundle of surprises that she unwittingly carried.  
>The following two years would give birth to the best infiltrationdemolition/trap/stealth kunoichi to have ever graced the hallowed halls of the academy.

Naome meanwhile, had just finished the final touches on a henge she was rather passionate about. She was curious about what she would look like as an adult, and so with a little tweaking, made what she would laughingly dub the Oiroke no jutsu, with clothing.

"I still look like me, but maybe if I change the hair, eyes, and the birthmarks." She muttered in a determined fashion. Struck by inspiration, she made the seals again and when the smoke cleared, there stood a red haired woman with sea green eyes and unblemished features.

She would, many years later, learn that she had just transformed into the spitting image of her mother.

After a final inspection, she set out to begin shopping for some food and perhaps even furniture; depending on how much ramen she bought.  
>Her brows coming together in sudden worry, she realized she wouldn't be able to buy as much ramen as she usually did. She didn't want to accidentally give away her identity!<p>

Another thought occurred to her, and in it an idea that shook her foundations to their core. She would simply act the opposite of how she would usually act! No one would connect Naome Uzumaki with Ran Yurichi!  
>Thus dubbing her new form of course.<p>

She stepped into the grocery store and was startled to be greeted by a smile and a welcome. Smiling in what she hoped looked a kindly fashion, she quickly moved to the aisles.  
>She bought five instant ramens, some eggs, milk, and a jug of orange juice. After all, she didn't want to blow her cover, and she knew how to make scrambled eggs anyway so it was a win-win situation in her mind.<p>

"Hello miss, running a few errands?" The cashier made small talk.

"Oh, hai." Ran answered demurely, trying to act like that girl with the funny white eyes in her class.

"Excuse me for being rude miss, but are you pregnant?" The question caught her by surprise and unbidden, a blush covered her face.

"W-What gave you such an idea?" She asked him.

"Maa, I've always had this weird sixth sense that lets me know when a woman is pregnant for some reason. From your look I'd guess it wouldn't be an absurd theory." The man chuckled as he finished ringing up her items.

Ran was startled at the prices! They were so low! She knew she was overcharged but she didn't think it was by such a large margin.

"Well, I don't think I'm pregnant but maybe I'll take this just in case." She had noticed them sitting near by in the medicine aisle and after hearing that man's prediction, she thought it would be better safe than sorry.

He winked and rung that up as well before bidding her a good day.

She didn't drop the henge, choosing instead to try and get a little experience in the nods of acknowledgement she was receiving. She'd have to be a really good actress to make this work after all.

She unlocked the front door of the apartment building when she was stopped by a voice.

"Excuse me, is Rukia-san here?" A young man asked her. She remembered Rukia being the name of the old woman.

"I'm afraid she's not, I recently bought the entire building actually." She said as politely as she could manage.

"Well then I guess I have to talk to you." The young man said pleasantly.

"You see I need a new apartment." She nodded hesitantly and let him inside her office. At least she knew about getting and giving apartments from when she first bought them. Rukia seemed insistent to teach her the arts of the trade before leaving.

"Ano, it's all in order. I hope everything is to your liking." She said politely, handing over the key to the second story apartment.

(Warning! I don't know or care about exchange rates! They keep fucking changing!)

"With only 20,000 yen for rent I'm sure it will be good enough. I'm Ichigo Kurosaki by the way." He said introduction before leaving to pack his bags.  
>It seemed she had her first tenant already. Now though it posed a problem. For one, that man she knew was a villager from further up the road where she used to live, and thus knew her. For another, he thought the new landlady of this building was Ran Yurichi.<p>

"I guess Naome will just have to be careful about never being around Ichigo-san." She told herself. She could see the benefits of being paid monthly, and he wouldn't want to stay if he knew she was really Naome Uzumaki.  
>She'd just have to get a lot of extra training in henge and acting, that's all.<p>

She set her groceries into the fridge and decided to look over the papers about this building. As landlady it would be her job to make sure everything ran smoothly after all!  
>She smiled to herself, rather enjoying her new found job. If the shinobi thing didn't work out at least she could still make a living as a landlady!<p>

She was rather disheartened to learn that the electricity would need repairs, but everything else seemed in working condition, if in need of a few upgrades.  
>She'd just have to save up. According to the little chart in her new little office, electricity repairs would cost about 50,000 for the entire building.<p>

"Hmm, it works, it just doesn't work all the time." She muttered to herself.

"If I wait, it will take three months before I have enough to repair it. If I get an after school job though, then maybe I could do it sooner?" She considered. It sounded like a good plan, she'd work on it tomorrow.

For now though, she was tired from keeping up the henge all day and decided to eat and go to sleep early tonight. Tomorrow would be a big day!

The pregnancy test would lay forgotten for a few weeks yet.

_One Month Later!_

Naome groaned upon awakening and rushed to the bathroom that joined with her bedroom. Thank goodness for small kindness, for if the bathroom were any further away she would've had a mess to clean up and no doubt would be late for class.

"Why do I keep getting sick?" She groaned aloud after emptying yesterday's dinner into the toilet.

She moaned about the taste in her mouth and rinsed it out before catching site of herself in the mirror. Was it just her or did the chest of her night shirt seem a little tighter for some reason?  
>She concluded that yes, she had indeed begun growing breasts, the first in her class too!<p>

She would have smiled if she didn't notice the accusing pregnancy test sitting innocently in the medicine cabinet behind her through the mirror.  
>Didn't she once hear that enlarged breasts and sickness were the first signs of pregnancy?<p>

"That's silly, I'm just a kid! I can't be a mom!" She laughed nervously, resisting the urge to knock on the wooden door.

She had tried to forget the test and that silly cashier but no matter what, especially after getting sick all the time, her mind was drawn to the both of them.  
>She would really enjoy forgetting about her birthday, but it seemed that until she manned up a little, it would haunt her.<p>

Besides, she was a kid! It was silly to be afraid of something that was impossible! Kids didn't get pregnant.

Still though, that day she took the test. Five minutes later she still couldn't bring herself to see the results.  
>She ended up leaving the test sitting in the sink, to await her return.<p>

She henged quickly and made it about halfway to the academy before darting behind a cart and henging back to normal.  
>She had gotten into the habit of turning into Ran every morning, to avoid being caught. Satisfied that no one had noticed, she sprinted to the academy.<p>

Iruka was just calling attendance when she burst through the open window.

"I'm here!" She shouted, a grin plastered to her face despite her stomach's attempts to complete a figure eight inside her.

"I see that Naome, sit down." Iruka sighed. He did care for the girl, he really did, but he wished she would make more of an effort!  
>But nope, as soon as he finished calling attendance he looked at her and she was sleeping soundly. Also, did her face look slightly green? He shook his head to make himself focus before throwing the usual eraser at her head. The thunk was very satisfying.<p>

An hour later Naome again felt that nauseous feeling again. The one that meant either she get to a toilet, or get sick all over her desk.  
>She tried to hold it back, since she knew she would get in trouble and accused of faking if she asked to go to the bathroom. It didn't work.<p>

Iruka was just getting into the Nidaime's reign when she lost a hold of the apple she'd scarfed down for breakfast all over the aisle.

"Naome are you sick?" Iruka knew he shouldn't have ignored her coloration! His teacher instincts were screaming obscenities at him for his cruelness of marking the girl tardy when it wasn't her fault since she was ill.

Naome finished upchucking and groaned, thumping her head onto the desk and trying to pretend she couldn't taste the foul taste in her mouth.

"Come on, school nurse." She didn't fight very hard while Iruka instructed Mizuki to get the janitor to clean the mess up while he took her to the nurse.

"Why did you come to school if you were sick?" he questioned her gently as they walked down the hall.

"I get in trouble enough for skipping." She pointed out.

"It's not skipping if there's a valid reason behind it." He argued. He paused while the girl groaned again and clutched her stomach. Curse this stupid virus that wouldn't go away!

"Come on, just a bit farther." He urged her. Naome sniffed and nodded, following him as best she could while holding her stomach as though trying to stop it from bursting out of her belly.

The nurse muttered something under her breath suspiciously like 'demon girl' before taking her temperature and everything.  
>She looked confused at the results for a moment before performing the test again, with a different thermometer.<p>

"Well she doesn't have a temperature, but her blood pressure is a little low." She told Iruka.

"Other than that, she appears healthy enough." The nurse finished.

"She should probably go home though." Iruka nodded and took Naome back to the class to get her things before escorting her home. After all, what if she collapsed on the way home?

"You live in the Red Light district?" Iruka asked, a small blush on his face when he saw a corner girl, or prostitute, waving at him in a provocative manner.

"Uh-huh." She answered, leading him nervously to the apartment she owned, not that he knew that.

"Thanks for walking me Iruka-sensei!" She said bye and closed the door, not wanting him to know she actually lived in the landlady part of the property.  
>Iruka sighed before turning and heading back to the academy. He'd just have to wait until she was well enough to come to school again.<p>

Once certain she was alone, she went straight to the bathroom. She had put it off for way too long and since the nurse said she shouldn't be sick, that left one option she really didn't want to think about.

An hour later, she roused herself from her stupor to henge into Ran and answer the door. The little pink plus sign she shoved into the deepest part of her mind.

At the front desk stood a young woman with purple hair and dark eyes, wearing a large coat and a mesh shirt underneat, coupled with light brown skirt and shin guards.  
>She had a Konoha hitai-ate as well.<p>

"Welcome, how may I help you?" Ran asked politely, putting away the lady's cool outfit to be thought about later.

"I need an apartment." The woman said gruffly, eyeing her with a familiar glint in her eye. This lady was suspicious of her for some reason. Did she see the henge?

"Alright, the rent is 20,000 every month. Hold on for a moment while I go get the papers." She said politely, leaving a surprised Anko Mitarashi to go and fetch the contract.

Anko blinked at the woman before grinning. She thought for sure it would be at least 70,000 yen because of her reputation.  
>Either this lady was new to Konoha or she was one of those open minded smart people! Either way, she could get a new apartment since she came back from a mission to find her's burnt to the ground.<p>

"Alright, I found them. Just sign the dotted line! You'll have apartment 103 if that's not too much trouble." Ran said upon reentering.

"Got it, and thanks!" Anko said with a smile before picking up her mission bag and taking the keys to go and get settled in.

"Oh, before I forget! The electricity is still a little iffy! I haven't been able to get it repaired yet!" Ran called after her. Anko grunted her understanding. Still better than she had expected.

Alone again, Ran walked into her office before returning with an 'out to lunch' sign. She grabbed a purse she had found in the trash and cleaned up then left the building to go on an all important mission.  
>She had to find out from a professional if she was really pregnant.<p>

She made the appointment and waited for them to call her back. When they did, she got her blood drawn, (As Ran obviously) did a pee test, and waited for the good word.

"Congratulations Yurichi-san, you're going to have a baby." The doctor reported to her in a half hour. Ran blinked before gathering herself, smiling, and thanking him before paying the hospital and making an appointment for the next month.  
>She'd have to go to the hospital every month in order to make sure the baby was healthy.<p>

Through that entire day, she didn't once think of the possibility of an abortion.

On her walk home she couldn't wipe away the smile on her face even if she took a rag to her face. She would really be a mommy! A kaa-san!  
>Gone was the nervousness, the nausea, and all the other things that had plagued her for the last month. Nope, she was in a good mood and she let the entire village know about it.<p>

Ichigo-san was just coming home when he found his landlady Ran smiling to herself over nothing at all.

"Did something good happen today Ran-san?" He asked curiously. She turned to him and smiled.

"I'm going to be a mother." On the bright side, at least he didn't drop his groceries.

"That's fantastic!" He congratulated her. She laughed and thanked him before offering to help him pack his bags but he declined. She was pregnant and should rest anyway.

Naome studied her reflection in the mirror. She turned to the side and tried to see if she could tell any differences. Unlike yesterday, today she was all frowns and worries. Today is Thursday.

She had just realized that if anyone found out it was her, and not Ran, that was pregnant, they might kick her out of the academy. If they didn't, she'd certainly be ridiculed and called some unflattering names for certain.

She sighed in relief upon seeing no differences and resolved to buy a very thick jacket or hoodie. At least she could hide the weight gain if she was careful.  
>She couldn't stay in henge and just miss nine months of school, she'd flunk out for sure! Which brought another worry to the front of her mind.<p>

She had two years before she had to graduate. She wouldn't be taking the exam this year since she would still be pregnant, and thus unlikely to pass the fitness test.  
>To graduate, she would need very good grades though, because she had to be one hundred percent certain that she would get her hitai-ate.<p>

She would need the money from being a shinobi to afford a lot of things for the baby. The doctor visits alone would no doubt keep her in the red until the baby was born!

She wouldn't go to the academy today, or tomorrow. Nope, she'd be preparing for the baby and looking for a job to help out.  
>Taking a deep breath, she made the now familiar seals and changed into Ran again. Time for job hunting!<p>

She decided to stay close to home and started in the entertainment section of the district. Obviously she would not sell her body like the corner girls, after all she had already gotten pregnant!  
>Nope, she went to the bars.<p>

"Excuse me bartender-san, are there any vacancies?" She asked politely, trying to sound grown up.

The man looked her up and down, his eyes lingered on her belly for a moment which worried her a little. He nodded before motioning for her to sit down.

When she left, she had a job for five until midnight every day. Since the academy ended at 3:00 that meant she'd have two hours for training unless she started getting up early.  
>She'd be a waitress, and asked to mix drinks and help keep the shinobi who came from getting to rowdy while drunk. She got weekends off unless they paid extra.<p>

The alcohol made her feel a little lightheaded but at least she hadn't gotten sick at all during the short interview.  
>She really did love the Red Light district. No one asked questions, no one looked at you twice, and so long as you didn't piss anyone off they treated you with a sort of passive respect.<p>

Naome decided to get used to early mornings and set her alarm for five in the morning. The academy started every day at eight, so that would give three hours for training, two for homework in the afternoon!  
>Yep, Naome Uzumaki had decided she would actively do her homework and study so she could bring her grades up out of the mud and the muck.<p>

She admitted to being exhausted the next night, as she was forced to retire to bed at midnight, but she figured eventually she would get used to it.  
>She left the alarm clock off that night, since she had no school or work or anything. Tomorrow would be for training.<p>

The next morning at ten Naome stood in a clearing with her kunai, practicing her throwing techniques. She had to hit the targets! She had to!  
>By the end of the hour, she at least got within the outer rings, but there was still room for improvement.<p>

She went back to the apartment and took a shower before henging and going to a bookstore. She would need some books on babies and taking care of them.

Ran got to the store alright and went to the section she thought would have information on babies and stuff.  
>Soon she came up with a book titled <em><span>What to Expect when your Expecting<span>_. Smiling, she also got a book of baby names before buying both and leaving.

Rather than read though, she went to the same training area from before and got to work on her taijutsu conditioning. Push ups, laps, punches and kicks, those kinds of things.  
>When she finished that she immediatly set out to work on her taijutsu stances from the academy.<p>

Taijutsu was the only thing she was instantly good at in the academy. Girl or not whenever someone stepped into the ring with her she gave them a few bruises!  
>She was right under Kiba, who was under Sasuke. She was right above a girl with white eyes, who now that she thought about it, was named Hinata or something.<p>

After that, she again took out her training kunai and shuriken for aim practice. She had to start hitting the targets more often!  
>After a few hours, she finally decided it was time for dinner and chose to go to Ichiraku's. Instant ramen was all well and good, but she missed the warm homemade broth of the Ichiraku duo.<p>

"Come to think of it, I haven't been sick all day! Maybe I can go to the academy on Monday!" She said suddenly, a grin spreading. Wait till she showed everyone how much better she got over the weekend! She'd show them! No more goofing off for her, no siree! She was going to be serious!

After dinner and a long tale about her absence from the stand, Naome henged and Ran walked out of an alley to go clothes shopping.  
>Orange T-shirts and white shorts were good for attracting attention but shinobi were supposed to be able to hide, and be all stealthy! Besides, she still needed that jacket.<p>

"Hello customer-san, are you looking for something for your son?" Why would she go to the girl's aisle? It was full of frilly and pink stuff and dresses!

"Hai, he's studying to be a shinobi but he tore his clothes training." She lied instantly. It would be better not to correct the lady. People tended to make up stories about someone's life from what they gathered and setting them straight would only take more time and effort than she had the energy to expend.  
>She was sleepy, since she didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night.<p>

"I need a good thick hoodie, preferably a dark grey and some black shorts." Eventually she also bought some elbow length fingerless gloves that she bet would make her look badass.

"Is there anything else you need?" The man asked her.

"Hmm, I think he mentioned something about practice equipment." Hey, this would be a good way for her to not get overpriced on her weapons! Not to mention she was in the mood to do a little shopping anyway. All girls are at some point.

The man rung up her purchases and again she was both pleasantly surprised and pissed that the prices were so much lower than if she came as herself. Bastards overpricing innocent orphans!

"Thank you cashier-san." She said politely before leaving with her new things. Now even when she started to really gain weight she had a way to hide it! Perfect!

_Two Months Later!_

Ran heaved a sigh and rubbed her finally extending belly as she bid goodbye to the workers who had just finished repairing the wires that made the electricity so unpredictable.  
>Now she wouldn't have to worry about the fridge going on the blink and her milk going sour.<p>

Now that the sickness had finally abated she found herself much more energetic with a craving for dango of all things. While she didn't eat ramen as much as she did, it was still her favorite food.  
>Well, if not for the cravings anyway.<p>

The books she bought said that diet was very important for the baby to get all it needed to survive, so she had bought a cook book and had taught herself more or less how _not_ to burn down apartments.

"Is that dango?" Ran 'eeped' and turned around to see one of her tenants, Anko, looking at the plate she was eating from.

"Hai, I've got a bit of a craving for them." Ran answered nervously.

"...Can I have some?" Anko asked hopefully. Ran blinked as she finally placed the new glint in the scantily dressed woman's eyes. Dango was to Anko what Ramen was to Naome.

"Sure, help yourself Anko-san." She nodded. Anko squeeled in happiness before taking a stick and promptly eating the wonderful little dumplings.

Anko felt a little bad about taking a pregnant woman's food but the woman obviously wasn't bothered. She had avoided contact with the landlady most of the time, usually only seeing her briefly to pay the rent.  
>She knew from her frankly idiotic neighbor that the woman was three months pregnant though.<p>

"Ichigo-san hasn't been giving you too much trouble has he?" Ran asked curiously.

"I remember him asking me to kick you out for no reason at all! I never would have thought he would do such a thing!" She knew from Ichigo-san about Anko-san's past but she didn't judge. After all, it was the same thing that happened to her and she secretly hoped Anko would turn into a friend, with time.

"I'm...ugh, glad you didn't." Anko said uncomfortably.

"I have no reason to, you pay the rent and act kind enough. Besides, you remind me of a little girl I know." She said slyly.

"I do?" Anko asked, surprised by that fact. Was there a budding young crazy bitch in the village.

"Hai, her name's Naome." This was her test, to see if Anko would be like the rest of the villager's or not.

Anko knew that was the name of the Kyubi vessel. She also knew the kid used to live in the same building as her but when it burned down she stopped seeing the gaki at all.  
>She wondered what happened to the kid. Did she die in the fire? Apparently not from what this lady was saying.<p>

"I used to live in the same building as her but never met her. What she like?" She asked over another stick of dango. Ran had a lot of dango, thankfully.

"She's energetic, kind, and works rather hard at her studies in the academy. Though she only gets Cs." Ran said in what she hoped didn't sound like she was laying it thick.

Anko humphed before finishing the dango she'd been given and saying bye to walk up the stairs to her apartment.

Ran sighed again before finishing the remaining dango before heading to work at Takimaru's pub. It was almost five already!

_Hokage office!_

Hiruzen sighed before puffing out some more smoke from his pipe. He was busy pondering how it was possible that out of the entire village Naome was the only one able to evade his orb's all seeing eye.  
>Sometimes he could find her, usually when she was at the academy, but then there was a good part of the day he couldn't find her at all!<p>

The orb worked by giving the description of the person he wanted to find. Hence, ten years old, blonde, blue eyes, and whisker marks, being his search.  
>No such luck. Naome had either discovered a way to hide from his orb, or the blasted thing was broken.<p>

The aged kage sighed and ran a hand through his beard. This honestly worried him a good deal. Iruka had reported that although she was now always tired in class, her grades had improved tremendously to the middle of the pack.  
>On top of that though, she was tired and he feared that she was doing something that was going to wear her out. Iruka guessed she was training and studying at all hours of the day to keep her grades up now. He wasn't so sure.<p>

Perhaps it was high time he snuck from his office to see the young blonde ball of sunshine. Heaven knows it had been too long since he last treated her to a bowl of ramen and listened about her latest prank.  
>Actually, now that he thought about it, she hadn't pulled any pranks either!<p>

He found her just when she was leaving the academy, looking a little tired but a little better than he had at first feared.

"Naome-chan, how are you?" He asked kindly.

"Hokage-sama." She greeted him politely. She had always been a polite child. He would have preferred it if she called him jiji every once in a while. He knew he wasn't always able to get away and see her, but they were familiar at least!

"Would you like to go for some ramen?" She grinned and nodded eagerly. The number one sure fire way to get Naome Uzumaki into a good mood, offer free ramen.

As they walked he sent side long glances at her. He knew she had a tomboyish fondness for boy's clothing, but usually the colors were vibrant, full of life!  
>However it seemed she had taken to wearing dark grey and black. Suitable colors for a shinobi, he knew, but for Naome they looked boring. Especially when in contrast with her blonde hair.<p>

Which, he noticed, looked like she had cut it herself with a kunai. He had rather liked her long pig tails, but then he remembered something.  
>Iruka had once told him that there was a rumor that Sasuke, the last loyal Uchiha, had a fondness of long hair and most of the girls had grown their hair out. It seemed that Naome didn't want to be accidentally confused with a fangirl.<p>

"Naome-chan, what happened to your usual clothing?" He asked once they ordered their ramen.

"Hmm? Well I'm trying to be all serious like a real shinobi." She said simply. The answer didn't ring true to him though, it sounded almost rehearsed.

"And shinobi are supposed to be all sneaky in the shadows, right?" He nodded absently and thought deeper on the matter. He couldn't find any reason why she _couldn't _wear those colors, it had just been a surprise and he had liked her bright clothes. They made it easier to keep track of her.

After he paid, holding a silent memorial within his mind for his wallet, they separated. He thought briefly of following her, if only to see her new apartment, but chose against it.  
>His my-secretary-just-found-out-I-snuck-out senses were tingling. If he wanted to avoid singing castrato it would be wise to hurry back to his office.<p>

_Meanwhile, with Naome/Ran!_

As soon as she couldn't see the hokage anymore she henged and ran to her apartment. She only had thirty minutes to get her waitress uniform and get to work now!  
>Curse her ramen addiction! At least he hadn't offered Dango, she might still be eating.<p>

Ran burst through the pub's door and clocked in. She sighed in relief to see she wasn't late. She had cut it a little close though, and that she would have to make sure didn't happen again.

"Get to work girl!" The oh so familiar order came. She chuckled and took her tray and little pad and pen to go and take orders.  
>She listened to the music, and gave the dancing girls a quick nod before moving around the tables.<p>

"Ran-chan why don't you get up on those poles?" The men jeered at her. She giggled coyly and wagged a finger in his direction.

"Your talking to a pregnant woman, surely I don't have anything you'd want to see." She joked. It was a now familiar routine.

Her uniform was simple enough. Obviously it was a little scanty, due to her place of work, but it was conservative enough for a pregnant lady.  
>Takimaru had almost thrown a fit when he found out she was pregnant and immediately tossed this new uniform into her arms. It seemed he didn't want the customers to get any ideas.<p>

She finished her shift and clocked out, leaving the disappointed crowd behind on her walk home.

As usual, she made it home safe and sound and crashed to sleep right away. The henge vanished, leaving an exhausted academy student.  
>She slept for five hours before waking up and going through her morning routine. She had a doctor's appointment today.<p>

Normally she scheduled them for the weekend so she wouldn't miss class, but her doctor, Hiroshi, was going on vacation then.  
>Today she'd be finding out if her baby was a boy or a girl. She hoped it was a boy personally. It felt like a boy. If it were a boy she'd name it Hikaru.<p>

"Well little man, let's get ready." She yawned, walking to the shower to clean away the muck of last night.

As Ran she went to the hospital, dressed in a comfortable kimono that was a little loose in the waist. Her heeled sandals were a dark blue.  
>Her red hair she had done in a ponytail. All in all one could hardly tell she was a pregnant ten year old.<p>

She was leaning back in the bed now, watching as Hiroshi-san moved the ultra-sound monitor around, trying to get the baby into a position where they could see the gender.

"Ah, here we go." She looked at the screen but didn't see anything different. Just gray and dark gray blobs all over.

"It looks like a healthy baby boy Yurichi-san." Hiroshi informed her. He took pictures and pointed out the male parts to her. All the time, she smiled and kept a single hand resting on her distended stomach.

"Arigato." She left the hospital carrying the pictures of her new baby boy. She couldn't wait to see what he looked like when he was born!

Naome lay on her couch, having chosen to take the day off from any training and simply crashed on the couch after getting home.  
>She was busy glaring at the clock on her wall at the moment. She was trying to will the hands on the clock to turn back. She had thirty minutes to get to work.<p>

"I don't wanna." She whined. It had been so long since she had given herself a lazy day! Since she last acted like the child she was!

"I'll get fired if I don't go." She finally sighed, hefting herself to her feet and walking out the door, safely in henge.

Ran yawned again as she carried yet another round to table seven. It seemed a large group of shinobi were celebrating over something or other.  
>Probably got back from a big mission and were celebrating making it back alive and in success.<p>

"Ran! No slacking!" Takimaru scolded her upon noticing her mouth agape. It was already eleven thirty, just a bit longer and she could go home.

"Hai Oyabin!" She called back. Oyabin, the honorable title of boss, which he insisted she call him for some strange reason.

Twenty minutes to go and she would be home free for a good five hours of sleep! That sounded abso-fucking-lutely heavenly!

She walked home, taking a different path from yesterday, just as she always did. After all, it was always fun going through short cuts and Iruka-sensei did say that shinobi falling into patterns could be dangerous.  
>Anyway, she was walking home, as Ran of course, when something strange happened.<p>

On her way home she noticed a shadow lurking in an alley. She stretched her neck a little and nearly gasped when she saw who it was.  
>Of all the people she could meet in a dark alley, why would Shikamaru Nara be lying there?<p>

Forgetting completely about her henge, she rushed over to the boy and looked for anything that would suggest he was hurt.  
>There wasn't any blood, and his clothes weren't ripped or anything. For all intents and purposes, the boy was sleeping.<p>

"Hey, Shikamaru wake up!" She urged him, shaking his shoulder.

Shikamaru's eyes bolted open for a second before relaxing into their usual lazy glow upon seeing a young woman waking him up.

"What are you doing here all alone at midnight?" Ran asked him, seeing he was awake.

"Troublesome. I got lost on the way back from a restaurant and ended up here and crashed." He explained.

"Figured I'd wait till morning to try and find my way home." Ran's brows knitted together. On one hand, he wasn't hurt and would be able to get home in the morning light. On the other, it was cold outside and she felt bad about leaving a friend to brave the dark.

"You come with me to my apartment and spend the night then, you shouldn't sleep in an alley, it's dangerous." She told him. Shikamaru yawned, muttered another 'troublesome' and complied. A bed would be better than the ground any day of the week.

Ran saw how tired the Nara boy was and found herself wanting to carry him. Despite the fact she herself was exhausted, pregnant, and didn't want to give away her identity on accident.

They got to the apartment and she settled him into her own bed and spent the night on the couch, not noticing as her henge dropped and she drifted into a sleep deeper than she usually accomplished.

Shikamaru woke up to the sound of a horrid beeping that he couldn't escape from. He eventually managed to slam a hand on the alarm on the night stand and sighed in relief at the blessed silence.  
>Until he caught sight of the time.<p>

"Troublesome! Who gets up at five in the morning?" He then remembered where he was, and who had brought him.  
>He groaned again before laying back down. He would deal with it later. For now that lady had given him her bed and he was still tired, so he slept.<p>

Three more hours later he woke up again, this time to more natural causes. Those troublesome birds outside the window were being too loud.  
>He sighed before deciding he should get up and see how the lady was doing. He felt a little troublesome for taking her bed last night.<p>

He walked outside the room and stumbled into the living room. He jumped in surprise when he saw his classmate and friend, Naome, laying down on the cushions of the couch.  
>She was tired, she was snoring, and she was wearing the same clothing as the woman from last night.<p>

That, and she appeared to have put on a little weight.

"Hey, Naome what are you doing here?" He sighed again when she didn't wake up and began to shake her. This was so troublesome.

Naome 'eeped' when she woke up, something she found she did alot when startled. Shikamaru's mind was whirring and he didn't like the conclusions he was drawing up. Sometimes (Always) being a genius sucked.

"Uh, Ran-san lets me stay here! She's really nice! She lent me her clothes cause mine were all dirty!" His first instinct was to accept the explanation. After all, short of inventing a new _physical_ version of the henge jutsu there was no other explanation.

Unfortunately for both of them, he was very good at detecting lies.

"Naome, why not start at the beginning? This is troublesome, but I want to know." Her smile faded slowly and her eyes widened considerably. He was convinced something had happened to his sometimes-running-buddy now and his troublesome brain couldn't get away from the subject of her apparent weight gain.

"You'll tell!" She protested, pouting fiercely. Shikamaru inwardly sighed and muttered something about troublesome women.

"What if I promise I won't?" He offered. If it was something directly harmful to her, he knew it was his duty to tell an adult, but he wasn't stupid. He knew that a lot of things must've been happening to Naome for her to live in the Red Light district.

"How do I know you'll keep your promises?" She asked him in turn.

"Because having you come at me with a grudge during sparring at the academy is too troublesome." She nodded at his point but couldn't help but feel sick to her stomach at the thought of telling anyone. She wanted to be a ninja dammit! They'd kick her out if word got out!

"Naome, I swear on both my clan name and ancestor's pride that I will not tell another living soul what you are about to tell me, troublesome girl." Naome for a minute could only gasp in surprise. Since she had started forcing herself to pay attention in school she knew swearing on one's clan and family was serious.

"On my birthday, I got raped by some douchebag. A month later, the day I got sick in class, I manned up and took a pregnancy test." Yeah, he really hated his troublesome brain. It was always so troublesome when he was right!

"Ran is actually me in disguise, a henge to run this apartment to get paid by the people who live here and get an afterschool job!" He frowned again, trying to discern the lie. Henges aren't solid!

"Naome, henges aren't solid. You should know better than try to fool someone like that." He had sworn on his clan honor and she still lied to him?

"Hey! I'm not lying! What do you mean they aren't solid? Mine have always been solid! Watch!" Her hands came together and 'Ran' popped up again, still wearing the uniform. Shikamaru's eyes narrowed and he gingerly poked the stomach of the transformation. His eyebrows shot up to his hairline when his hands didn't pass through it harmlessly.

"Naome Uzumaki doesn't lie when she says she won't!" Ran said, sticking a tongue out at the now shorter boy.

"Naome, henges aren't meant to be solid." When she didn't understand, he henged into another Ran. She poked him in the chest but her hand phased right through!

"Whoa, weird!" He made her dispel her henge and redo it so he could watch her. The signs were exactly the same, no matter what angle he looked from.

"How is that possible?" He was normally very lazy, as all Nara men were, but they were also all geniuses. To come across something that so clearly made a mockery of everything he knew and confused the heck out of him so much was frustrating.

Meanwhile, Naome had been telling him everything that she'd been doing since her birthday. Shikamaru winced when he remembered that. Being raped had to be the worst birthday present ever, even more so since she was an orphan and the guy was still on the loose.

"But if anyone finds out I'm pregnant they won't let me be a shinobi! They'll kick me out of the academy!" Which explained her reluctance to tell him all of this. He knew they weren't particularly close but they were familiar at least.

"Have you thought about what your going to do after it's born?" He was rather curious to see what she'd do about that actually. Babies required constant care and she couldn't take care of the baby at the academy. Couldn't bring the baby with her either.

From the look on her face, obviously she hadn't. What was worse was that now that he knew so much of the situation, he felt inclined to _help!_ What kind of troublesome situations were he being dragged into?

He did some quick calculations in his head. He knew now that her birthday was October tenth, that meant the baby would be born in July, about midway. That would be during the summer, so the baby would be almost two months before the academy started again. Old enough to be dropped at the nursery from around seven until seven.

Then there was also the problem about the henge. Apparently, anyone who knew about the pregnancy thought it was Ran who was pregnant, and Ran was only a very advanced henge. The question was if Naome would be able to keep the henge up during labor, and for how long?

He asked her if she knew how long she could keep up the henge normally and she stated that she could keep it up for seven hours at least but had never pressed farther than that. That was better than he'd expected and explained why she was out as Ran at midnight. Although he still didn't know why she woke up at five.

"Naome, do you go to doctor appointments?" He knew that pregnant women had to go to the doctor at least once a month to make sure the baby was okay. He also knew that during these appointments blood was often drawn and ultra sounds used. When she nodded, it opened up some possibilities.

"I have an idea but we need more information on your henge and what it can do." That is when they remembered that, unlike Naome, Shikamaru had a family. A family that was probably worried sick that he had never come home. A family with a very lazy but smart jounin commander and nagging mother.

"I'm screwed." He groaned. His mother would kill him! He had never made it home last night!

"Hey Shikamaru, what if I took you home as Ran?" The solution was so simple, yet so sweet! The henge couldn't easily be disrupted, from what he knew, and hard to detect since he knew at least one shinobi lived in this building and didn't know.

"It's the least I can do to repay you for your help!" Naome decided, already making the all too familiar handsigns. Ran changed from her work clothes and put on a green kimono before they headed out.

Shikamaru was amazed when he saw how her personality seemed to do a one eighty when they stepped into the lobby. Suddenly 'Ran' was kind, sweet, and quiet. Not troublesome at all and more than happy to help a little lost boy get home.

"Ne, Shikamaru, how did you get lost anyway?" She wanted to ask how he ended up in the Red Light district since she knew that there were no restaurants in it that let in kids on a regular basis.

"I was actually trying to get my dad to come home from a bar but got turned around." Ah, that made more sense. The Red Light district could be confusing for an outsider, especially at night.

Not five seconds after knocking an imposing woman answered the door. Ran noted that Shikamaru didn't look much like her except for the bone structure.

"Shikamaru-chan!" Ran was completely bypassed by Yoshino darting forward and pulling her son into a hug.

"Please come in so I can thank you for bringing my son home safely!" Yoshino insisted, having assured herself that Shikamaru hadn't been hurt or caught cold.

"Well I found him late last night on my way home from work and took him home with me." Ran explained over tea. Shikamaru was positively stupefied by her act but admitted he was relieved. Naome was not the kind of girl who his mother got along with, but he wouldn't be surprised to find Ran being invited over for dinner in the near future.

"I sent him to find his father! I was so worried when his father came home and saying that he never saw him! I thought he'd been hurt!" Yoshino sniffled loudly. Ran briefly wondered how she would feel if her future son didn't come home one day. She just as quickly crushed the very idea.

"The Red Light district can be dangerous for children. I myself am a little worried about raisng my son there." Yoshino's eyes seemed to widen and she looked down comically as though she had just noticed Ran's somewhat roundish figure.

"How far along are you?" Yoshino asked excitedly.

"13 weeks actually. I only last week learned he's a boy." Ran answered, more subdued but obviously happy.

"You live in the Red Light district? Forgive me for being blunt, but are you married?" Ran blushed and she lowered her head slightly before shaking.

"I was going to be married, but he left." Yoshino cooed sympathetically and comforted the distraught looking red head. Shikamaru found himself fighting the urge to gag and wondered if his mother would notice should he leave the room.

"Do you make enough to support yourself and the child?" The Nara woman asked.

"I should. On top of my job as a waitress I also own an apartment complex, which brings in extra money." Somehow this topic led to vitamins and about proper weight gain during pregnancy, with Yoshino telling Ran she was much too thin and she should eat more. Which somehow brought the topic to Yoshino running upstairs and bringing down Shikamaru's old baby things.

"I couldn't possibly!" Ran protested when she saw the beautiful, sea blue basinet. Shikamaru was dying of embarrassment, even though logically he knew it was really just Naome.

"I insist! Besides these are just collecting dust in the attic!" When Yoshino finally managed to wear Ran down, he was drafted to help move everything. His father came home just as they were about to leave and in turn Yoshino drafted him as well.

"What will it feel like when the baby starts to kick? Does it hurt?" Yoshino had forbidden Ran from carrying anything but a diaper bag. She was now taking this opportunity to speak with Yoshino-san about the pregnancy to lay some of her worries to rest.

"Only nearing the end, the rest of the time it just feels like butterflies in your stomach." The older woman assured her.

Shikaku had come home to find his wife befriending an obviously pregnant woman. He knew the minute his gaze landed on her that she was still early in pregnancy, probably late first trimester or early second. He also instantly knew he'd be seeing a lot of the young woman. Yoshino loved children, especially little children, especially when she had a chance to know the mother during pregnancy.

His son was strangely quiet, but he figured he would be too. No doubt before Yoshino even had the idea for this furniture move the two women had been talking about pregnancy and possibly some of Shikamaru's quirks as an infant. He would be as quiet as possible too if their situations were reversed.

But since they weren't reversed, he was free to mutter the Nara favorite word as much as he liked since his wife was too busy to smack him.

He cast a lazy eye over the apartment they had entered and found it surprisingly clean. Ran didn't seem the type to pay for a maid, so it was likely she did the cleaning herself. He was also surprised to see Anko Mitarashi who seemed to be waiting for Ran's arrival.

"Anko-san, I hope you weren't waiting for me!" Ran cried immediatly, stepping forward.

"Huh? Oh, no I wasn't! I just wanted to talk to you about my rent for when I leave on extended missions." Anko assured the woman. Ever since their talk, Anko had discreetly made an effort to get to know Ran more. In return Ran had taken to smiling bigger and speaking a little louder in the dango loving woman's presence.

"So Nara, what are you doing here?" Anko asked the shinobi standing and holding a basinet. Shikaku groaned, knowing this little meeting would be known halfway around the village by lunchtime.

"Yoshino-san was kind enough to give me her son's old things! I think she's even more excited I'm having a boy than I am!" Ran joked good-naturedly.

After explaining about how Ran had found Shikamaru last night, Anko offered to help set the stuff up and let Ran sit down for a bit. Ran wondered if she should be offended that everyone seemed to think she needed to rest every five minutes, no matter if she really _was_ tired from the long walk.

Despite her wish to take a short nap, Ran made sure to stay awake. She didn't want to even try keeping the henge up in her sleep, especially with so many people in her apartment. So when Shikamaru came to get her and tell her they'd finished setting up everything in the 'nursery', she was up and ready to go!

On a whim she had painted the room with blues and greens and browns just two weeks ago, before she even knew it was a boy! She found she was actually a pretty good painter to, which was a small bonus. She was glad she had now, the basinet and changing station matched it perfectly.

"It's wonderful Yoshino-san!" She thanked the woman again. She couldn't believe anyone was willing to give her these things! She thought for sure she'd have to buy some herself!

"Shikaku-san, Anko-san, Shikamaru-kun, thank you as well for helping me." She bowed respectfully.

The Nara family left after getting her to agree to dinner that weekend, leaving Ran and Anko alone. Ran sighed tiredly and sat on her couch, facing the tv she never even used.

"If you want I could make a dango run." Anko offered charitably. Ran jumped at the offer and handed the woman some money to pay for it all, stating that it was only right since Anko helped set everything up.

Ran groaned aloud exactly three minutes after Anko left and when she was sure no one was around. She dropped the henge and immediately began rubbing her ankles. She usually didn't carry things heavier than a tray of drinks when in henge, and then only for a couple minutes. Who knew it could so exhausting?

"Obviously henge and work are going to be something I train on for a while." Which reminded Naome that she hadn't gone to the academy that day. Shit.

She transformed just a minute before Anko returned and gratefully accepted the dango. She'd worry about Iruka-sensei tomorrow. She had the rest of the day to cook up an excuse.

"If your tired we can talk about that deal for my missions tomorrow Ran." Anko suggested. She could see that Ran was clearly exhausted, although the civilian did a pretty good job hiding it.

"No, we may as well talk now, I'll only be tired again tomorrow." Wasn't that the truth! Being pregnant was exhausting! She was always tired! Something that she had no understanding of, before the world tipped itself to one side.

"Well, I've recently passed the Tokubetsu jounin exams, which means that I've made it into the elite. However the elite also take more important missions." Anko was unused to having to explain such things, but Ran was only a civilian and wouldn't understand otherwise.

"These missions are higher ranked and can take longer to finish, sometimes over three months. I'll be leaving for a three month mission in two days and I need to make sure that my apartment doesn't get new locks while I'm gone." Anko knew by now that Ran was too nice to change the locks like that if she missed a payment, but missing three might be bad.

"Hmm, would you be able to pay when you got back?" Ran asked curiously. Anko did the math and knew that her little A-ranked would leave her with plenty of money to spare, even after paying for missed rent.

"Yeah, so would that be an okay deal?" Ran nodded and the deal was finished over the remaining dango. Anko left to do whatever it is that new tokubetsu jounin do in their free time, leaving Ran alone to revert back to Naome and finally reclaim her bed!

Anko considered herself very lucky to have found a woman like Ran as her landlady. Too many people judged her on her connection with Orochimaru and treated her poorly because of it. Ran knew about her past though, and even tried to befriend her.

If anybody were asked if they thought Anko and a civilian woman could get along, the answer would have been a resounding no. Here they were though, civilian and kunoichi and getting along just fine in the small amount of time Anko could spare. Anko even found herself leaving the forest of death earlier than normal to go to the bar Ran worked at and check up on her.

She had come to think of Ran as a psuedo-little sister. Someone she could watch out for and support and who had a streak of craziness but was always polite, unless angered. The night Anko had witnessed a drunk man grope Ran she had seen that the woman obviously wasn't a helpless girl, like she'd first assumed.

Nope, when the man grabbed her chest Ran's eyes had narrowed, a smile had crept to her lips, and a hand had come down in arch that just happened to meet his face. That hit hadn't been a slap either, but a full blown punch with decent strength, for a civilian woman. Anko had of course proceeded to make sure the man never thought of coming back to that particular bar again, but she knew Ran wouldn't be taken advantage of during her pregnancy at least.

That she cared surprised her, that she didn't care that she cared made her curious. Why was Ran different from the other civilians?  
>Anko decided that Ran's parents had probably been geniuses or something, to have created a girl who was so polite and open minded.<p>

_With Naome/Ran_

Naome felt like crying when she heard knocking on her door. She knew she must've slept, since the clock read three instead of eleven like it had earlier, but she felt like she had only just closed her eyes.

"Come in!" She didn't care who it was at this point, she only wanted them to get what they wanted and leave so she could go back to sleep. Finding Shikamaru standing in her bedroom doorway threw that option out the window screaming like a little girl.

"Your really tired aren't you?" Naome gave him her best scowl but knew it's effect was lessened with half her face smooshed into the pillow. She realized she was laying on her stomach and quickly rolled over. She was worried that laying on her stomach might squish the baby or something.

"Why are you back already?" She asked him after a lengthy yawn.

"I needed to get away from my mom." He answered.

"Go ahead and go back to sleep, I'll just take a nap too." He told her.

"I shouldn't, I got work in two hours and it's a thirty minute walk." She really did wish she could sleep some more, but if she did she might over sleep, and missing just one day might get her fired!

"I'll wake you up, troublesome girl." So Naome took the offered chance to sleep and drifted off quickly.

Shikamaru would've chuckled at how quickly Naome fell asleep if he thought it was worth the effort. As it were he simply began walking around the apartment. He hadn't come here to escape his mother, like he said. In truth his mother had sent him here because she thought 'Ran' might need help with something.

As he knew the truth behind Ran's identity, he privately agreed. Naome did need all the help she could get, even though she'd been doing well on her own. She'd been subtle, had hidden the signs, and had developed pretty good acting skills without any help. However it remained that she was only a kid, and pregnant.

On his way here he had bought some books on teenage pregnancy. Despite the fact they were only kids, he figured the books would be better than nothing. Alot of the principles were basically the same, like their changing bodies.

As it were though, he wasn't looking at them. Nope, he was looking at her wardrobe. Naome's clothes were usually thick, except for the shorts and Ts. She had at least three hoodies and two jackets, which kept getting thicker so he assumed these were used to hide her weight gain.

Ran's clothes were thinner and obviously maternal. They consisted mostly of stylish kimonos or blouse and skirt outfits. There was also a copy of her uniform, her other one was probably still in the wash.

He went into the kitchen and looked at her food supplies. It looked like she was able to cook basic meals, judging from the open cook book and some dirty dishes. She was well stocked, she had probably been shopping recently.

The nursery now had a basinet, changing station, and two boxes of baby clothes. Before they had come though, it had held a dresser, some baby toys, and a rocking chair. He admired the paint and opened the closet to find painting supplies, which meant Naome had probably done the painting herself.

The living room had a couch, tv, and a little garden of potted plants. Naome had a talent for gardening, which he never would have guessed.

All in all the apartment was unremarkable. It was tidy, but it looked lived in. The space was open but it didn't look empty. The walls were bare of pictures, like a normal household, but instead there was splashes of color. Shikamaru wondered if Naome had walked through her entire house with a paint brush and merely dabbed at whatever space she felt needed brightening.

The colors _were_ bright. Here was some red, there was orange, and he saw in the bathroom that it was mostly a very bright blue. There was a lot of yellow, the living room was mostly green. They weren't covering any specific place either, and each spot looked messy. It looked like Naome had just thrown globs of paint everywhere.

He went into Naome's room and took a look around. It was the master bedroom of the three-room apartment. It held a queen sized bed with patched up sheets, some purple curtains, a fuzzy orange carpet, a dresser, a vanity with half the mirror missing, and a book shelf.

Shikamaru was pleasantly surprised to see a Go board and wondered if Naome was any good. He then moved on to the bookshelf to see what sort of things Naome read.

There were some baby books, one or two cook books, a kid's story book, a photo album that he'd look at later, and a big history book. He looked at the last one the longest. It wasn't a school book, it was too big, but it said clearly Konoha History.

He took it out and found that it told more than important names and faces and battles. There were details like reasons the shinobi wars were all started, allies past and present, and important info on the origins of the village clans. It wasn't a history book, it was a fountain of knowledge!

Shikamaru looked at the time and saw it was four fifteen. He should wake Naome up now to let her get ready for work. She wouldn't mind if he stayed and read a little though, would she?

As it was, Naome told him he was always welcome so long as he didn't make a habit of going out late. He wasn't sure if she was serious about that or if it was a joke because she looked like an adult as Ran. Either way he knew he'd be heeding her advice regardless, the Red Light district was dangerous for kids on their own, even academy students.

He finished the history book with understanding on a lot of clan traditions that he hadn't had before and decided to look through the photo album since he had spare time before having to go home.

On the front of the album were the words Family Album in formal kanji. He knew Naome was an orphan, but he wondered if that had always been the case. Were her parents' pictures in here?

He opened it but instead found ultra sound pictures. There were pictures of Ran and Naome respectively. There was even a picture of Naome lifting up her shirt and admiring her belly in the mirror. It must've been taken a month back or so though, because it looked flat and unremarkable.

This wasn't an album of any lost family, it was an album of the family she was starting. He flipped through the rest of the book to see if there were any more pictures, but until the end he didn't find anything. At the back was a poem though, apparently written by Naome.

Tiny movements like tiny kicks

Tiny baby, a mother's bliss

Can't wait to give the tiny you

Huge hugs and lots of kisses too

What tiny dreams you might have now?

I would understand someday, somehow

I dreamed last night, your tiny face

An angel indeed, made from God's sweet embrace

How else would mommy know?

How much her tiny little angel has grown?

How else would mommy guess?

If her little angel have some requests?

I know that somehow you could now hear

Oh, what a thrill you will bring us here!

Now hush my baby, it's time to rest

Inside my womb, your own calm nest

May God help me to keep you safe

And always keep you strong, I pray

I love you right before I planned you

And I love you more now that I have you

The poem wasn't the best written, but he could clearly see Naome struggling to come up with just the right words. If he told anyone that Naome would ever write a poem, he'd be sent to the school nurse before he could say troublesome, but after he closed the album and replaced it on the shelf, he wondered what else he didn't know about Naome Uzumaki.

He left and made it home in time for dinner, which they were having at the Akimichi's. His mom wouldn't shut up about the sweet 'Ran' and her little boy she was expecting. Shikamaru knew from the look in Chrona Akimichi's eye when Yoshino said Ran was too thin that Naome would be invited over for dinner very soon.

"So this Ran lady let you stay at her place for the night?" Chouji asked to be certain. Shikamaru nodded and the boy continued his eating like he'd never spoken.

"What's she like?" The question was easy enough to answer but Shikamaru quickly realized he didn't know. What surprised him though, was that he wanted to.

"Quiet, likes gardening, polite, and likes bright colors." He reported loyally. He found himself wanting to say she was a good painter, that she wrote some poetry, and that she obviously loved her baby even though she was only three months along. What did he really know though?

He stayed overnight at the Akimichi household that night. Chrona eventually weaseled out of him that 'Ran' had a craving for dango from what he'd observed before letting them go to bed.

"Hey Shika, you were pretty quiet, is something wrong?" Chouji asked from his side of the twin bed. Shikamaru opened his eyes to see his best friend looking at him.

"Nothing's wrong." He said honestly. Nothing was either, Naome and the baby seemed healthy enough, nothing had happened to him in the district, that crazy jounin woman hadn't tried to kill him.

"You didn't once look out the window at the clouds all through dinner!" Shikamaru realized he'd have to work on his acting if he wanted to keep his promise to Naome. Still, he found himself wanting to tell Chouji, honor be damned. It was only Naome's face when she'd asked him to promise not to tell that kept him quiet.

"I ran into Naome today, she lives in the Red Light district." His friend's eyes widened, as though he'd just discovered the secret to the meaning of life. Chouji seemed to accept his explanation and drifted off to sleep. Shikamaru took a little longer, but sleep couldn't evade a Nara for long.

Over the next few days a new routine was established. Naome slowly started entwining herself into Shikamaru and Chouji's lives, almost without even Shikamaru realizing what she was doing. He would need to ask to find out though. After school Shikamaru would inevitably find his way to her apartment, sometimes with Chouji and sometimes not, helping with her homework.

He would help her try and figure out the absolute limits of Naome's henge, making her randomly transform into various people and objects. When he found out she could change into things much smaller and larger than her, he nearly had a field day with the number of uses that could have.

As expected, an invitation from Yoshino to Ran to meet the Akimichi was delivered soon. That weekend she was invited over and they had dinner together comfortably. Shikamaru introduced Chouji to 'Ran', Yoshino introduced her to Chrona. Chrona then began trying to make Ran eat her weight in food.

"Come now, your much too thin for three months! Help yourself, there's plenty!" Ran was again coerced into accepting another plate of food. At least they had finally made it to dessert and this plate had dango on it.

Chrona and Yoshino had never been ninja, thus they got along well with Ran. Come to think of it, Yuki Yamanaka had never been a ninja either. Ran wondered if she would be meeting Ino's mom soon.

"Okay be honest, did you want a boy or a girl when you first found out." Yoshino asked. It was after dinner and everyone was sitting in the living room and unwinding.

"I immediately wanted a boy but I do hope to have a girl later on. When I find the right guy." Which for Naome, might be difficult. Especially as her having a kid couldn't stay a secret forever.

"Have you thought of names?" Chrona asked next, pouring some tea.

"I've already decided on the name Hikaru." Ran informed them. For a girl she wasn't so sure, but she liked the name Kuina.

Eventually it grew late and Ran bid everyone good bye. She wasn't aware that Chrona had Choza follow her to make sure she got home safely. Luckily, Ran saw the walk home after the long evening the perfect training exercise and didn't dispel her henge.

She made it home, took a shower, and went to bed. She'd had a long saturday and was ready for a nice long sleep!

_3 months later!_

Naome decided there wasn't enough hours in the day. She worked herself to the bone in the morning at five until seven thirty, ate breakfast, then sat through the academy, then homework for two hours, than work from five till midnight. This left five blissful hours of sleep, which were a good five hours too few.

Naome came to this conclusion whilst sitting in class through a long lecture about the many shinobi disciplines. She shook her head and made herself focus. Who knows, maybe she'd learn something to help her.

"Yet another example of a discipline requiring a lot of study is fuuinjutsu." Naome looked up in interest. Sealing arts? Like storage scrolls and exploding tags?

The extra studying she'd have to dedicate to that almost put her off entirely. She already had too few hours of sleep as it was! Naome watched as Iruka showed some of the students some of the uses for seals, like barriers and intruder detector seals. Things she could definitely use.

Naome groaned and let her head fall onto the table in front of her. She was 24 weeks pregnant, and tired! She thought it was bad before, but at least then she'd been able to walk for a good while before tiring out.

"Naome Uzumaki, wake up!" Her head shot up and she felt her eyes prickling. She'd started experiencing the mood swings she had read about, she knew she had to get it under control or she would start crying in front of everybody.

"'M wake!" She assured him sleepily, not helping matters. Her schedule was really starting to kill her, she needed a break! If only she could just go on vacation or something. She knew that wouldn't happen though, she still had a month of school left.

Iruka sighed in annoyance before returning to his teaching duties. Naome was really starting to worry him. She was even more tired than usual and rings were appearing around her eyes. Her grades had taken another jump forward in the last couple months too. He wondered if she was training for even longer now because it didn't look like she was sleeping.

"Maybe you should slow down on your morning training." Shikamaru suggested during lunch. He had told Chouji to go on outside without him while he spoke to Naome. He still hadn't told his friend, but he was wondering how long it would be until the big boy found out for himself and if their friendship could survive it.

"Your six months along, so obviously it only hurts more to practice now. You might force yourself into labor prematurely." He whispered into her ear, making sure no one could hear them.

It was an underhanded trick, but bringing the baby into the argument usually made Naome do whatever it was you wanted her to. She balked at the mere thought of endangering her baby boy. Shikamaru knew that boy would be the most protected and watched over in the entire Fire Country, maybe the world.

"Maybe I should cut down a bit." Naome mumbled self conciously. She had always known that her kind of training wasn't the most beneficial, but just halting in her regimen made her boil. She found she liked being in the upper echelon's of the class, and she was afraid slacking off now would ruin that.

At the same time, she knew her most recent scores had started suffering from over working herself. It was definitely time to cut back and relax.

Naome suddenly winced, as a particularly strong kick seemed to knock the air from her lungs. Oh yeah, her little boy was definitely going to be a strong taijutsu user.

Shikamaru had never felt the baby kicking, but he'd often seen Naome or Ran wince at the baby's movements. Sometimes he wanted to ask, but it didn't feel right. He wasn't the baby's father, he wasn't his uncle! It didn't feel right to ask to be let in to that little world.

Naome inwardly sighed as she saw Shikamaru's gaze linger on her belly. She knew he wanted to feel, but he never asked. She wondered if he felt embarrassed about asking. She then decided she didn't care and she _wanted_ Shikamaru to feel her son.

Shikamaru's mouth opened in an attempt to protest when Naome took his hand but froze when it was placed on her stomach. Naome had lifted up the hoodie, leaving her belly covered in only a white T and the bump clearly showing.

Shikamaru tensed when he felt something flutter beneath his hand. The baby was kicking, and he was feeling it. He opened and closed his mouth, trying to think of something, anything, to say but came up blank.

"Whoo, I think Hikaru is trying to show off for you!" Naome grunted. As soon as Shika's hand had landed the little boy was a flurry of movements. She wondered if he knew that it was Shikamaru's hand, then decided he probably did.

Shikamaru regained his wits and eventually lifted his hand to go join Chouji. Naome stayed inside and slept through lunch and recess, just like she always did lately. Or at least, that was her intention.

"What were you and Shikamaru talking about?" Naome nearly burst into tears there and then when she heard the voice of Ino Yamanaka directly above her. Why did people always come when she was trying to sleep? Did they enjoy tormenting her? Was it a conspiracy! Why wouldn't they let her sleep!

"He was in here an awful long time." Oh, and apparently Sakura was tagging along too. This day just kept getting better and better!

"And you've been acting weird for weeks now!" Ino again, slightly louder and helping to nurture a headache Naome hadn't noticed until then.

"Yeah, you finally decide to get serious and then you can't keep your eyes open in class!" Sakura, even louder than Ino. They better not start a screeching contest right beside her or there would be hell to pay and she would demand currency in blood.

"So start spilling!" _'Kami, kill me now.'_ Naome wished she could just sleep. She needed sleep! If she didn't get sleep soon one of the three of them wouldn't walk out of this room!

Naome had to almost physically stop herself for reaching for a training kunai when Sakura spoke again.

"You know your only ten years old right so you shouldn't be lifting up your shirt and letting him cop a feel!" Naome instantly lifted her head and gave the deadliest glare of her life. Sakura and Ino both backed a step and seemed to freeze, they couldn't even breathe. Naome would later realize she had used Killer Intent for the first time in her life.

"That you would even suggest that makes me sick." She stood up, unable to just sit still with all this hormonal rage boiling inside her. Her son seemed to sense what was happening and she could swear she felt him curling deeper into her for protection.

"If I hear anything like that from you or anyone else in this academy, you know who I'll blame. Spread a rumor like that and expect Hell. Now leave me the fuck alone so I can fucking sleep!" Naome, until now, had never sword at school. Sakura and Ino ran from her like the devil was at their heels.

Instantly all her anger turned to fear. What if they told someone? What if she got into trouble for threatening them like that? What if _Shikamaru_ had heard that? He might decide it was less troublesome to distance himself from her!

Naome sat down helplessly and shot a furtive glance at the clock on the wall. She still had thirty minutes before anyone came back from lunch.

Naome Uzumaki laid one hand on her stomach, stuffed a fist in her mouth, and cried.

After running, Sakura and Ino sat in the shade of the building to try and shake away their lingering panic. Sakura and Ino both competed in book smarts and both realized they had just felt raw KI, something most _genin_ never managed!

"I-I never meant to say that!" Sakura knew she had crossed a line. Ino and her may have been rivals but they both still came together when a juicy secret surfaced. When they witnessed a scene of what looked like Shikamaru feeling Naome up through the window they had immediately jumped to conclusions. This one being that the two were secretly dating.

"God I feel so bad, she looked like she was going to cry!" Ino hated it when people cried around her. It was part of the reason she had first befriended Sakura, because the pinkette was always crying.

"We jumped to conclusions! He was probably just looking at something in her lap!" Sakura whimpered, remembering the utterly hateful look they had been on the receiving end of.

"She definitely hates us now." Ino wasn't sure how she felt about that. She knew many kids were jealous of her brilliant good looks, but she wasn't sure about people hating her. Naome had every reason to hate her too.

Both knew they had to go back in there for class. Both knew they had to apologize. Both knew it had to be done in front of the entire class if they wanted Naome to know they meant it. Both dreaded it at the same time they wished the bell would ring.

Naome was sitting in the same place, although her head was down and her tears dried. She hadn't lifted her head when she heard kids enter the class. She hadn't until she heard them whispering and practically _felt _ them pointing at her.

Hesitantly, she lifted her head to see Ino and Sakura standing in front of her desk. A surge of panic ripped through her and she knew that they were about to tell everyone about her threatening them! She'd get detention for so long she wouldn't remember what freedom tasted like!

"Naome, we're sorry!" Sakura stated it loudly for the whole class to hear. Naome opened and closed her mouth before settling on putting a confused expression on her face.

"We shouldn't have said that about you. You didn't deserve it." Both girls bowed. Naome knew from those silly diplomacy lessons that the girls would stay there until she acknowledged their apology.

"Um, It's okay I guess. I overreacted. I should've explained what you really saw." By now the entire class was confused.

"We want to make up for it, so we're taking you shopping!" Naome straightened up and instantly turned to her left, where Shikamaru was now looking at her. They both knew clothes shopping would mean changing rooms, which meant taking off her extremely thick hoodie.

"Um, well, I-I'd love to but, uh I got a thing that I gotta do. With um, Shikamaru!" She looked at him helplessly, unused the amount of attention she was getting. The only expierience she had with something like this was with Yoshino, Chrona, and Yuki, and that was when they _knew_ she was pregnant!

"You do!" Ino squealed. She knew those two were closer than they looked. Shikamaru thankfully took the cue to save Naome's bacon.

"We were going out for ramen." He yawned, acting less than interested.

"I knew you two were dating!" Iruka looked like he wanted to say something, probably tell them to sit down, but he was also interested in Naome's strange behavior. Was her strange tiredness just a side effect of puberty?

Naome's blushing didn't help the whispers starting to spread. How did she get herself into this mess? Why was she blushing? What was worse, was that she found the idea of dating Shikamaru perfectly fine.

"We're not dating! It's just ramen!" She never thought she would say such a thing about the holy noodles, but desperate times took desperate measures. Besides, Shikamaru looked like he liked the idea even less than she did!

"Oh really, so what exactly was he doing hovering over you during lunch?" Ino asked coyly. Naome invented new shades of red that would make Hinata jealous.

"Um, uh, he was, you see we were only, um, uh...Help me out here Shika." She wanted to cry again. That's how much she was enjoying this.

"I was...I only wanted to look at a book she had in her lap." Shikamaru said lamely, feeling about the same as her. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Chouji trying to hold in his snickers. The_ traitor!_

"Ssuuurree, we completely understand Shikamaru. You were just looking at a book, something Naome's never _touched_ willingly." Ino purred. She loved teasing people and Naome and Shika were such good targets! This was better than she had imagined.

"Uh, Iruka-sensei don't you have something to say about the village economy or something?" Naome turned to her teacher in desperation, a lecture, anything, to escape everyone's looks.

Iruka came out of his self-induced trance and told everyone to sit down and be quiet rather profesionally for someone who felt like he was watching a drama unfold. Naome visibly slumped in her chair for relief. That was way too close, but now she had a ramen date with Shikamaru. How did she get herself into these messes!

Shikamaru meanwhile had finally managed to put the pieces together and realized what must've happened. The girls had seen him feel the baby but hadn't had a good enough view to see Naome's extended stomach and had drawn conclusions that brought pink to his cheeks.

They had confronted Naome about it and must have said something very offensive because they had even apologized in front of the entire class to make amends. They had then offered a shopping trip and knowing that shopping meant changing clothes, he had been forced to intervene to help protect Naome's secret. Which brought them full circle to the 'date'.

Shikamaru studied Naome and decided he could live through one troublesome date. Naome wasn't as troublesome as Ino when you got to know her. She was pleasing to the eye but not in-your-face beautiful, she was nice, liked gardening, painting, and poetry.

He could do worse, he decided. Besides, they weren't _really_ dating this was just a trick to get Ino and Sakura off their shopping trip idea for now.

School ended and Naome and Shikamaru headed to Ichiraku's ramen. Naome was of mixed feelings. On one hand, everyone else thought this was a date, on the other hand it was ramen!

"I think we're being followed." Naome whispered suddenly. She wouldn't have caught it normally but all her sneaking around as Ran had given her practice at feeling other's eyes on her. Shikamaru nodded, he felt them too.

It seemed Ino and Sakura wanted to watch their little date.

"We're going to have to play along." Shikamaru whispered back. They didn't want their bluff being called and all.

"You've been cultivating a Lavatera plant haven't you? You said they aren't native to this climate, so how is it going?" He asked louder, just enough so their audience could hear.

"Pretty good actually! I've just begun pruning it and the shoots are sprouting like mad! They'll start blooming in a couple weeks!" She said excitedly, happy to talk about her plants. On the top of her apartment building was an old garden that she had immediatly fixed up and put to work as soon as winter was over. She loved doing her homework around a multitude of flowers.

"You know Ino's parents own a flower shop, you should go there sometime." Shikamaru advised her. She did go there as Ran, but they tried to make sure Naome went to places Ran did so that both identity's could have information and not be seen as suspicious.

"I was thinking about it cause I passed by there the other day! I really need some more pots and fertilizer!" He resisted the urge to smirk with mirth as Naome almost walked past Ichiraku's in her detailed list of things she needed.

"Ah, Naome-chan! Shikamaru-kun!" Ayame greeted them happily, already helping her father get their usual orders ready. They often came here after school, although usually with Chouji too.

"You two here by yourselves? So did Shikamaru finally ask you out Naome-chan?" Naome got a betrayed look on her face and invented an interesting shade of red. Shikamaru wondered briefly if Hinata had been giving her blushing lessons.

"Um, well, it's not really a date!" Naome protested weakly. Why was everyone suddenly hooked onto the idea that they were dating? Couldn't two opposite gender friends go out for ramen anymore?

"Why are my girls growing up so fast?" Teuchi sighed.

"Ayame is almost a woman and now my little Naome-chan is bringing boys to the stand." Naome groaned and her head hit the counter with a thump.

"Oh, by the way Shikamaru, if your going to date my little Naome-chan I have to give you the father speil." Shikamaru invented a new shade of pasty white. Naome chuckled as Teuchi lectured him on treating her like 'A beautiful, strong, independent, princess'.

They left the ramen shack and decided to go the the Yamanaka Flower shop, since neither felt like doing homework would be good date material.

"Ohayo, Yamanaka-san." Shikamaru called politely when they walked through the front door.

"Hello Shikamaru-kun, do you know where Ino is? She's meant to be running the register." Yuki returned politely.

"She's been following us since school ended." Naome informed the woman. She could see the stress instantly fade from the woman to be replaced by relief. She made a note to always make sure she knew where Hikaru-chan was so she wouldn't always be worried.

"Well is there anything I can do for you?" Yuki asked kindly. Yuki was one of the few adults who gave Naome the benefit of the doubt, so she always tried to make a good first impression with these kind of people.

"Hai, I need some pots and fertilizer for my little garden." She said. After collecting their purchases and managing to coerce Shika into carrying the heavy bag of fertilizer, they left for her apartment.

Naome gave a huge yawn as she realized how tired she was now. She felt better than she had earlier, ramen usually did that, but now she was exhausted from carrying the pots and they weren't even in the Red light district yet!

"Want to take a break." Shikamaru asked her, nodding his head in direction of the park they were approaching.

"Yeah, but only for a little while. I got work in an hour!" Naome insisted quietly, not wanting their tag alongs to hear.

"That old man works you too hard." Shikamaru had met Takimaru and could honestly say the man rubbed him the wrong way.

"Takimaru's okay once you get to know him. Besides, if not for him I'd be out of a job and out of luck. Doctor's appointments are expensive!" Naome reminded him.

"We should get moving I guess, even though it's troublesome. If your late you might be fired." Shikamaru thought about complaining about the heavy bag but decided against it. The pots were heavier_ and _Naome was pregnant and she wasn't complaining!

They made it with just a few minutes to spare. Naome henged into Ran and changed into her uniform before heading off, leaving Shikamaru to either lounge in her apartment or go find Chouji. Remembering how his friend had betrayed him earlier, he chose lounging about today.

Naome's apartment had changed a bit in the last three months. The walls were all painted now and covered in paintings that she had done herself. The paintings themselves were varied. Most were of buildings, like the academy, the mountains, Ichiraku's, and the Hokage tower. Each painting was shaded differently, like she'd been feeling something different when finishing each one.

The one for the monuments was bright and had the Sun angled just to show the Yondaime in a bright light and managing to shadow the other three faces. Naome did hold the Yondaime in higher regard, he was her hero.

The one for the academy was slightly darker. Whether this was shadowing of the building's purpose to train little assassins or simply because Naome hated school, he didn't know. All the paintings were styled high lighting a seemingly small part of the subject, but somehow drawing your attention to that place until you realized how important it was to the picture as a whole.

In her bedroom were portraits. There was one of him and Naome, at the park and playing. In this picture Naome looked slightly younger and she wasn't pregnant, she wasn't even wearing a jacket although the leaves in the trees were orange and red. Shikamaru was laying on the slide and looked like he was cloud gazing. Naome though was swinging with a big grin on her face.

Shikamaru's brows came together and he looked closer at the picture. In the background, hidden from immediate view, were the monument heads. Naome's face was positioned so it looked like her face was in the place the Godaime's head would be carved. He smirked when he saw that and wondered if anyone else had seen the irony or if it was just him so far.

In her room were her easel and paints, the Go board that they sometimes played at, the bookshelf, and on the vanity there was make up. The bookshelf had some new additions, like some parenting books, a novel that she had fallen in love with, a book on jutsu theories which he'd provided, and some more advanced cook books.

More color had been added as well. The roof of the room had been painted like the sky, with a couple clouds and everything. A sill pot was sitting on the window with some tulips budding and a couple getting ready to bloom.

Shikamaru thought it looked very homey. Having finished having a look around, he decided to claim Naome's bed until he had to go home. His mother was all too troublesome about him being out late now.

_Next Day, Six in the Morning._

Naome slammed a fist on the alarm next to her bed and let her feet carry her to the bathroom without even opening her eyes. She had decided two hours with one dedicated to physical training and the other to chakra would be less dangerous than two physical hours and one chakra hour.

At her training ground she did her stretches and started her laps. She was near the top of her class in strength training even though she was secretly pregnant. The only ones who could beat her were Kiba and Sasuke and she made both of them really work for it. She sometimes won against Kiba, simply because she could outlast him, but that wasn't often. Who knew protecting your stomach could make it so hard to win a spar?

After her laps she did punches and kicks, working at the same tree she'd been working at for the past half a year. It was really getting worn down now. When she finished that she moved to push ups, curl ups, and one handed chin ups!

While she didn't always win her spars, she was at the top of the class when it came to brute strength. She wondered if carrying the baby as extra weight helped. No one could beat her at arm wrestling, even though Sasuke made it a point to try at least once a week.

When the hour was over she settled down to work on her chakra. Shikamaru had given her suggestions to help her out with the bunshin jutsu, which she had a lot of problems with. No matter how much chakra she used, she couldn't make the clones come out! At least not without them looking dead!

So he had suggested chakra control excercises! It turned out that leaf excercise Iruka-sensei sometimes made her do as punishment was useful for something after all! She had gotten to a point where she could have fifty leaves on her arms and head and spin them round and round without any falling.

It was while she was doing this that she had an epiphany. Although what surprised her the most was that she knew that word at all.

What if instead of making something stick to her, she stuck to something! An image of her walking around on her ceiling came to mind. That would be the abso-fucking-lutely coolest thing ever!

She hopped up, making the leaves fall from their various perches, and faced another tree. This was totally doable and she was determined to do it! She bet everybody would be so jealous when she showed it off in class!

Apparently the baby was eager for her to try too, since he was kicking her harder than usual now. He felt really excited!

Naome made an effort to calm herself down before she began molding her chakra. She knew that if she let her stupid hormonal mood swings win she wouldn't be able to focus her chakra at all! She focused completely on the tree, she had to concentrate.

Naome opened her eyes and put one foot on the tree. It stuck. She added her other foot, a little higher than the first, and was fully horizontal. Pushing away the thoughts of possibly hurting the baby by falling, she took another step forward.

She was shaky and she sometimes slipped a little, but over all she thought she had done pretty well for a first time. She did fall a couple times, but she always made sure to land in a way the baby wouldn't be accidentally hurt.

She grabbed an apple from home before heading to the academy, her mind abuzz with possibilities.

During class they again spoke briefly about fuuinjutsu and it's many uses. Yondaime-sama had been a fuuinjutsu _master! _Of course, this made her want to study it even more, but she simply didn't have the time. It would have to wait until she had a slightly less busy schedule. Working a good nineteen hours a day didn't leave much free time.

"Now then, it's time for sparring. Let's go to the dojo." Naome smiled when she heard that. She loved sparring! Being able to learn by beating on people and being beaten on, there was nothing better!

Today she was put with Hinata as a partner. She thought Hinata was kind of weird cause she was so quiet but she guessed she was shy. After all, she had Ran be quiet and shy too and Hinata and 'Ran' acted pretty much the same.

Naome's academy taijutsu sucked, but she didn't really use it. She let her body move on instinct, letting each blow slide into the next as she pivoted back and forth aginst her opponent. This method worked pretty well with Kiba and Sasuke, who preferred head on taijutsu like her. Against Hinata though she changed tactics.

Hinata was smaller than her and not as strong, however she used her clan taijutsu the jyuuken. With it Hinata could completely shut her down with just a few hits, and getting hit with little needles of chakra hurt. What was worse was that Hinata liked aiming for the stomach.

So whenever Naome fought her, she made sure to keep out of reach to try and tire the Hyuga heiress out. She'd go in for a hit if she thought she could, but she tended to stay moving as much as possible. Especially since she knew the Byakugan could see through things, which meant Hinata might see the baby!

She knew that all living things had chakra, and she knew that even babies inside their mom's tummy's had chakra, which meant the byakugan could see them. Whenever she fought with Hinata she made sure to try and channel chakra to augment her moves. Not only did this make her faster and stronger, but it distracted Hinata from looking to closely at her torso.

The fight ended quickly enough when Naome got behind Hinata and kicked her off balance before sitting down on her. In that position it was difficult at best to get any leverage to displace your opponent.

"Winner, Naome Uzumaki." Iruka announced after seeing Hinata couldn't displace her.

Shikamaru as usual forfeited his match against some nameless student. He never even tried, even though she knew he was decent at the taijutsu. He was just too lazy and called it troublesome.

**END OF THE FIRST CHAPTER AND I PERSONALLY ENJOYED TYPING EVERY SINGLE LETTER!**

LC; Okay, we're done with the first chappie!

Naruto; Great, only about ninety nine more to go.

Sasuke; This is going to take forever, it's too slow paced!

LC; Maybe to you it is but I actually put time skips! I don't usually do that!

Naruto; Whatever, let's just leave already.

LC; Kay kay! Review please!


	2. Mind Numbing

LC; Shit. I hate it when this happens!

Naruto; Yeah, your almost finished and then the document vanishes.

Sasuke; Her computer logged off and she forgot to save.

LC; Well not anymore! I'm saving this stupid thing!

Naruto; You should;ve seen what she did when she first found out!

Sasuke; We thought she was going to commit suicide.

Naruto; We were deeply disappointed.

LC; I still might actually. I am very depressed about retyping all that.

Naruto; She hates wasted effort, and that is what this is.

LC; Well lets get moving back to the fic. I need to make up lost ground.

Disclaimer; I do not own Naruto and let's leave it at that okay?

Chapter 2; Lucky number seven.

Contrary to popular belief, Naome was serious about everything she encountered. Whether or not she showed that depended on the situation. She was serious far more often as Ran then she was as Naome though. Sometimes she worried about that.

Creating a mask could be tricky. There was a risk that the act could take a life of it's own and that was happening a little too fast for Naome's liking. Ran had a job, friends, and responsibilities. Naome had the academy and she could only spend so much time there.

She wasn't too woried though because Ran was just a part of her she didn't show normally. The part that actively painted and read, the part that could spend hours in her garden, the part that was less sure of herself. It wasn't a part she showed at the academy, for a couple of reasons. The first being that at any sign of weakness she could be brought down.

Naome winced as she felt a particularly powerful kick. Hikaru was going to be one hell of a shinobi someday. Shikamaru sent her a side glance but didn't make any other sign that he had noticed. He had never felt the baby kick, even though he wanted to.

Naome yawned as she tried to stay awake to Iruka-sensei's lecture. She was exhausted because of her long hours at Takimaru's. It couldn't be hlped though, she had asked for the job and was loath to quit now. She had to admit though, something had to give soon and if it wasn't the job, it would be her.

Shikamaru shot yet another glance at Naome. Part of him wondered if it was because she kept almost falling asleep, another wondered if it was because he was looking for a chance to place his hand on her stomach without anyone noticing. Least of all her. Troublesome, but he guessed it was fine so long as he was careful not to be caught looking. That might raise questions.

"Remember class, next Wednesday after school we have a guest speaker from the T&I department to introduce you to interrogation techniques." Naome looked up from her note book to see Iruka-sensei standing at the front of the class with his usual kindly smile. She thought that it sounded pretty cool but the problem was the lecture would last for a whole hour. It was a long walk from the academy to her apartment and then all the way to Takimaru's.

Unless she got some time off or quit, there wasn't any way she could make the lecture. Naome waited until lunch to let her head hit the desk and could've cried without shame when her son decided to start kicked her again. Didn't he realize that Kaa-chan needed to sleep? Lucky gaki got to be carried everywhere but she couldn't take a nap?

"Your overworking yourself." Naome tipped her head over to be able to look at Shikamaru. He was standing over her with this look in his eye. He was worried about her.

"I think I'm going to quit Takimaru's." She mumbled tiredly. The only reason she hadn't had a breakdown was because of her legendary hyperactivity. If she wasn't naturally hyper she'd have collapsed long before now.

"Probably for the best, troublesome girl." Naome wondered if that word troublesome was some kind of verbal tick for the Nara. His father said it a lot too, as did the other few Nara she had met. Even Yoshino had taken to the word! If she hung out around Shika for long enough would she start saying troublesome all the time?

She winced at a particularly strong kick to her bladder and wished she hadn't had that extra glass of OJ. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Shikamaru staring at her belly. She knew that the lazy boy wanted to feel the kicking, but he never asked.

"Shika, we already got caught once, you may as well feel if you want to." She sighed, sitting up and leaning back in her chair to look out the window. No nosy fangirls to spy on them today, good.

He muttered something again but obediantly felt the little ball of happy curled inside her body. He had noticed that Hikaru was always pretty active and he took this as a good sign. The problem wasn't that the baby was active, except that it was. Naome was ten but by all appearances Hikaru was the healthiest fetus in the world. It didn't make sense but he had a couple theories.

Naome had a lot of chakra, chakra was the source of life, it was very possible that the baby was feeding off of more than Naome's nutrients. Maybe the baby was siphoning off her chakra to enhance itself to survive the pregnancy. It would explain why she was so tired all the time, which was unusual, even for a pregnant woman.

"Come outside and nap, it's a good day outside and Chouji will give you some chips." He said to her. Normally, the lazy boy wouldn't have bothered. Where Naome wanted to nap was no business of his. He justified himself by saying that the desks weren't good places to nap when grass was an option.

"Fine, but if someone wakes me up before the bell I reserve all rights to hurt you during sparring." He smirked and they decided to just hop through a window. Doors took too long. Luckily for Shikamaru, they were left alone to enjoy the peace.

They were the last to get back to class and were surprised when they found only three seats avaliable. All in different corners of the room.

Ever since Naome had established herself into their group the three of them had sat together. Shikamaru in the middle, Chouji on the right, and Naome on the left. Now they had to sit apart.

Naome shrugged and headed for the window seat. If she wasn't sitting with friends she was at least going to sit at a place with a view. That seat happened to be next to someone she didn't associate with though, someone she honestly disliked. Stupid Sasuke Uchiha choosing to sit in the middle of that row right next to the window seat she wanted.

She didn't want to ask the teme to move over, as it would earn the ire of the pink haired fangirl sitting next to him and drooling, so she decided to just hop over the desk. She vaulted herself over the desk and landed neatly into the chair on the other side.

Sasuke normally didn't pay attention to Naome. She used to be the dead last of the class but had suddenly jumped ahead in grades. This wasn't simple improvement in the aspects being taught, or a change in curriculum, this was what happened when someone decided to_ try._ Naome Uzumaki had been _playing_ the loser, the only question was why.

It had started six months ago, in the middle of November when he looked at the class rankings. Naome was in the middle rather than the last, over taking almost all the civilian children. She had stayed there for three months and then took a leap up again, to the top ten. Actually, it was more accurate to say she was in the top five.

She wasn't loud and didn't wear bright colors anymore and she looked tired, like she didn't get alot of sleep. Was she training at all hours of the day? Was she serious now? Maybe the dobe thing had been an act and now she had let the mask slip.

Sasuke didn't like when unexpected things happened. He didn't like it but he could always count on the fangirls screeching at him, he could count on Iruka-sensei always lecturing, and he _used_ to be able to count on Naome wearing orange. Now she was an enigma he couldn't figure out, a mystery novel with the end ripped out.

When she sat down next to him he took a long look as she vaulted over the desk and into the seat beside him. Her hair had grown out again, it reached just past her shoulder blades. Today she was wearing a dark brown hoodie and she couldn't seem to decide if she wanted the hood up or down yet.

He knew she had gained some weight but he didn't think it was that big a deal. It wasn't even a big difference, she was nowhere near Chouji's weight. She was a little thicker around the middle, but that could just as easily be muscle as fat.

Iruka was going on about the other big five, but he figured he knew enough about them that he didn't listen. Naome wasn't listening either, she was looking out the window with an indecipherable expression on her face, nothing like her old, big grins, or her newer bored looks.

He turned back to face the class, and never saw Naome roll her eyes in his direction.

Yeah, she had noticed him ogling her. It figured that she was the only girl he deigned to acknowledge. All the other girls he ignored. He used to ignore her too but after she got pregnant he was suddenly very interested in her, though he hadn't done or said anything yet.

She wondered sometimes if he might know about the baby, then she'd laugh because nobody but Shikamaru had figured it out and if she had her way no one else would. He was probably wondering if she was trying to grow her hair out for him. Which reminded her, she needed to cut her hair again.

"Alright class, time for shuriken practice." Mizuki-sensei announced. She didn't like Mizuki-sensei, he just gave her this bad feeling. She tended to trust her instincts.

Naome joined the girl's side of the training field they were using. Classes like these were always seperated by gender, the girls on one side and the boys on another. Boys were drilled more in physical excercises and girls more in throwing excercises. This was all under the assumption that all girls were for support and all guys were meant for the front lines.

Naome always thought there was no greater pleasure than doing something everyone else said was impossible.

Her throwing skills were second to only Sasuke Uchiha, something she took as a personal insult. These stationary targets were so boring and all it took was a flick of her wrists, rather than the swinging of her entire arm like the Uchiha and just about everyone else. In fact, the only one who threw like she did was Shikamaru, and his reason was to conserve energy rather than for effeciency.

When she finished her work she sat in the shade with Shikamaru, who had also finished. This was just another day at the academy, nothing to make it stick out from all the others. That is until she began to feel regular pains in her cirvix.

Naome swallowed the lunch that had started swimming upstream and timed the pains. She kept her face as neutral as possible as she timed that they were about ten minutes apart, each. Her face was probably pale, not that she had a mirror to check.

She took a deep breath and shifted a little in her seat. They were in the middle of science class, where they were learning the affects of mixing chemicals to make poisons and antidotes. She had to relax and hope they went away or eased or something.

The pains weren't as intense as she feared for labor pains, if anything they were more uncomfortable than painful. Her water hadn't broken either, and until it did she wouldn't make a move. Of course, if it broke while she was here her secret would be out to anyone who recognized it.

Luckily the pains stopped after forty minutes, which meant they weren't real, just one of those fake labor pains she read about. It had still scared her though.

Having quit her job at Takimaru's, Naome was free to attend the interrogation seminar after class that Wednesday. She would have thought the room would be packed, but all in all only about eight kids were present, and she was the only girl.

The door to the classroom opened and a man with two scars on his face, wearing a black over coat, walked in. He wore his hitaite like a bandana, but that was the end of her observations.

"I'm Ibiki Morino you brats, head of the T&I division. Anyone here to learn about causing pain to others, the torture part of the job, please leave." Four civilian boys packed up and left then, grumbling about being ripped off. Naome hadn't really been interested in that bit anyway, too much blood for her tastes, so she was content to just sit and learn about telling when someone was lying.

At the end of the lesson they'd been given a list of books to look at for further information. Ibiki had told them about the Tells from when a person lied and the differences in tone used when someone was hiding something but not lying.

All in all, it had been worth the hour. Now she just had to get those books, which might be harder than first appeared. Naome Uzumaki wasn't _banned_ from the library, per se, but she was definitely discouraged from going there.

Ran couldn't get the books though, since they were in the Academy Student section. Looks like she might have a little work to do after the end of the year.

At 27 weeks pregnant, Naome was more than ready give up and carve the baby out. He kicked like there was a taijutsu tournament in her stomach, she was tired all the time, and she wanted to feel like a normal kid again. All these seemed like good reasons to her, but the baby didn't seem to agree.

She knew she couldn't though, for more than one reason. Reason one was that he wasn't full term yet and wouldn't be until week number 37. Reason two was she wasn't confident enough that she wouldn't kill them both in the attempt.

Naome sat up and stretched the kinks out of her back. Having quit her job just yesterday she was free to train in the evenings. Without that income she'd have to be a little more careful in her money dealings. No more buying paints, no new furniture, no more splurging unneedingly on instant ramen and dango.

Today was Saturday, she had the morning free, had to pay some bills, then she'd be dropping by one of the Nin Banks to make an account. She transformed into Ran and went for a walk around the block, just so she could say hi to some of the neighbors.

She came back to see an old woman wearing the white robes of an orphanage matron waiting.

"A-Ano, were you waiting for me? I hope you haven't been waiting here long." She apologized meekly quickly. Matrons did not like being kept waiting. She remembered her days back at the orphanage.

"Ran Yurichi I presume?" Ran nodded and walked behind the front desk.

"I am Nora Hagane, the matron of West Orphanage. I am here to speak about setting up an orphan in this establishment." Ran quietly gathered some papers and watched as the matron filled everything out.

"Her name's Tenten and she will become a shinobi in one month. Her things will be here tomorrow but she'll be arriving at three. Can you be here to greet her?" Ran assured the woman she would be there

With that finished, Naome decided to move paying her bills to the morning and left with her purse nice and fat. After paying her bills she went to a Nin bank.

Nin Banks were banks that worked for just about everyone and specialized in making sure the money was secure. There was an unspoken agreement amongst every single hidden village that Nin Banks were forbidden ground. No one messed with their subordinates pay.

Despite the name, they served civilians as well. They served just about anyone and their workers made sure that the money stayed where it was meant to be. Retired shinobi tended to work there, as their skills in memorizing large amounts of information came in handy.

"Excuse me, I want to open up an account." She was asked to fill out tons of information. Codes were very serious things and she wanted her's to be one no one would guess. She thought about it for a second before punching in 1010, the tenth day of the tenth month, her birthday.

With that she deposited fifty thousand yen and left to go and meet Tenten.

"Hello Yurichi-san." As it were, she met Tenten at the door. Ran took a minute to look the girl over as subtly as possible before returning the greeting. Tenten wore a pink, chinese style top and brown pants. She was secretly relieved to find that Tenten was a normal kunoichi, not a fangirl.

"Just Ran is fine Tenten-san." She said politely.

The days flew by, weeks blending into eachother until she hardly knew what day it was. They reached the end of the year, Tenten-san became a genin and told her about the D-ranks and the 'extra test', and the summer began.

Today Shikamaru and her were hanging out with Chouji at the park. Naome had decided that he could be brought into the fold, so she was nervous.

He took it pretty well, considering his best friend had kept such a big secret from it. He understood the need for secrecy though. He was most surprised from finding out that she was actually Ran, he could hardly believe that the henge was solid and that she was actually so polite.

"Well, a lot of stuff makes sense now. I just want you to answer one question." The plump boy said, setting aside his chips for a moment.

"What is it?" Naome asked curiously. The boy only put his food down if things were serious.

"Can I feel him kick?" A grin spread across her face and she lifted up her hoodie. If he was going to kick the crap out of her from the inside, he may as well do it for someone else.

With the summer here, Naome found herself with copious amounts of free time. She decided that five hours a day were enough for training, and as the months wore on she'd probably lessen that too, for the baby and all.

She had taken to painting more often now. She'd sometimes take her stuff out as Ran and set up to paint whatever scene she thought looked good. She got a really good painting of the village from a bird's point of view from the top of the monuments.

Today she was working outside at a park. It was a very popular one with lots of apple trees in the final blossoming of the season. After this the fruit would begin to grow. She figured she would catch the view of the beautiful flowers while she could.

"You are a very talented painter." Ran eeped and turned around to see an older woman looking appreciatively at her canvas.

"I've heard about a young woman who goes around painting but this is the first I've met you. My name is Akane Saotome and I am an art dealer." Akane-san proceded to ask to see her other works, leading Ran to invite her to her apartment to see them.

Akane cooed as she saw each new piece. Ran enjoyed the attention and ended up bringing out the pieces in her room as well.

Akane could hardly believe what she was seeing. The apple tree picture had been great and filled her with such a peace that she could have stared at it until she died. The picture of what she recognized to be the ninja academy was beautifully done with an underlying tone that sent chills up and down her spine.

Even the shock of seeing 'the kyubi brat' in one of the paintings didn't deter her. In fact, it seemed so bold! It gave her a sense of anticipation, like she was waiting for the figures to start moving. Like she was waiting for the little blonde girl to jump from her swing, look at her, and flash that same smile that had been captured.

"Oh this one, I'm sure I could get a good price for it at the market!" Akane practically drooled as she imagined the figures.

"I'm not sure. I painted that one special." Ran said uncertainly. She really liked that one.

"Can you make a copy?" Ran thought about it, then nodded.

Akane ended up having her title her paintings, add a sign in the lower right corner for identification, and then took five of them to sell them with promises to split the profits evenly. The sign was a red swirl thing, like the konoha symbol without the stick or point.

Having found a new, much more flexible, source of income, Naome decided she deserved to indulge herself a little. So she decided a trip to the hot spring as Ran would be a pretty nice way to enjoy herself for once.

She had just settled down and was starting to feel her muscles relaxing when she heard something. At first she wasn't sure what it was, maybe the wind playing tricks on her. It happened again, far too often to be just the wind.

It sounded like giggling, high pitched perverted giggling coming from the wall at the far side of the spring. Ran looked around her and saw that a couple of kunoichi women were bathing closer to the wall. It looked like they hadn't heard anything though.

"Excuse me, forgive me if I'm being rude, but are you expecting?" She eeped and turned to see another kunoichi woman. This one had long dark hair and strange, red eyes. Ran thought they looked pretty intimidating.

"Hai, I'm 27 weeks." She answered politely.

"Sorry, I should introduce myself! I'm Kurenai Yuhi, a chunin kunoichi." The woman dipped her head a little.

"I'm Ran Yurichi, a pleasure to meet you Kurenai-san." Ran replied distractedly. She was _sure_ there was someone on the other side of that wall!

Kurenai noticed the woman's nervousness and turned her attention to the wall she had been staring at pointedly. Sure enough, within seconds she heard perverted giggling. It angered her beyond belief that someone would spy on women, especially a pregnant woman, in the hot springs.

"Girls, I think we have company!" She shouted suddenly, bolting from the water and revealing the fishnet clothing beneath. The only way to tell the difference between a civilian woman and a ninja was that the kunoichi always wore those undergarments to guard against peeping toms. Whoever was on the other side of that wall was going to get a big surprise.

Ran left the hot springs shortly after. Kurenai-san had left in a big huff going on about 'deprived men' and had been too distracted to even say good bye. Not that she particularly minded. Most shinobi didn't sociate with civilians anyway.

When she walked out of the building and passed by the women's spring wall, she found the crumpled remains of a man with long white hair. At first she was afraid the angered kunoichi had killed the guy, but he soon twitched back to life.

"Ano, perhaps you should learn not to giggle so much if your going to watch." She suggested as she walked by.

Jiraiya blinked as he watched the red haired woman walk past him. His mouth fell open and might have bounced on the ground but he didn't care. It was like going back in time! He was looking at Kushina's long lost little sister or something!

"Excuse me, miss!" He called after her. A likeness like that was too uncanny. Anyone who had known Kushina would be able to recognize her!

"Hai?" Ran asked, turning around to speak with him.

"What's your name?" He asked her, moving to walk beside her.

"It's custom to give your own name before asking for another's." Ran chided him kindly, smiling softly.

"Forgive me for being rude. Ahem..." There was a lengthy pause as the man ceased walking. Ran turned around and was treated to something she truly had not expected.

"I am the man known from East to West! The one with friends and enemies alike from the North to the South! I am the Toad Mountain Sage, the great, the mighty, Jiraiya!" Her first reaction was to laugh like a lunatic until the situation stopped looking funny. Months of practice perfecting her polite mask though, prevented the outburst.

"Well Jiraiya-san, I am Ran Yurichi." Jiraiya mentally frowned. Something about this woman struck him as odd, and it wasn't just her amazing likeness to a certain deceased redhead. For one, she was lying to him.

He was a spy master and made his living by knowing when someone was trying to bull shit him. Ran Yurichi was trying to do just that, and with a fairly good attempt as well. She looked him in the eyes and gave all the right reactions to be written off as a civilian, pregnant woman.

The way she moved was wrong though, even for a pregnant woman. They had been walking in quiet conversation for a few minutes now but she didn't look the bit fatigued. If anything she seemed rather lively. He wasn't an expert but he knew pregnant woman often found it difficult to move around after a few months. Either she wasn't really pregnant, thus making her suspicious, or she was some kind of exception to the rule.

There was a pretty simple way to tell if Ran was really pregnant though.

"Ran-san, don't take this the wrong way based on the hot spring's, but would you mind if I felt the baby?" He made sure he looked as innocent as possible. The woman hadn't seemed very mad at him, but one never knew.

"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt." She answered after a moment's hesitation. Why was everyone always asking to feel the baby? If they could feel him kick at nearly every hour of the day, they'd be pretty sick of it too!

They found a place where Ran could sit down and she let the toad sage place his hand on her stomach. Immediatly her instincts started going hay wire! She wasn't sure how she knew but she could _feel_ Jiraiya using his chakra for something!

She had just started to panic. Was he trying to hurt her baby? Was he hurting Hikaru?

Jiraiya meanwhile, hadn't even noticed her loss of focus. All he cared about was the fact that he could feel there definetly was a baby in there but something was stopping his efforts to get his chakra threads closer to it.

It was like the baby was wrapped in a cacoon of chakra! However this chakra wasn't _shinobi_ chakra! Shinobi chakra, even academy student chakra, was regulated and even unless purposely disrupted. Civilian chakra, and most animal chakra though, was wild and untamed. She was a civilian, yet her chakra moved like she was focusing it.

"Ran-san, do you come from a shinobi family?" His earlier memory of Kushina reared it's head again. Uzumakis were known for more than just their sealing and fiery hair, they also had untamable chakra.

"I don't think so, why the interest?" She asked him curiously.

"You know what chakra is, right?" She nodded and then elaborated, explaining how her friend, Anko, had explained the basic concept to her.

"Well, even though you are obviously a civilian, your chakra is very responsive. It seems to have cacooned itself around your baby." The same thing had happened with Kushina, though at the time he thought it was to protect the baby from the Kyubi during pregnancy. Now he wondered if all Uzumaki women did that when they were pregnant.

Then another thought, what if it was just pregnant women in general? He had only known two pregnant women in his life now, so it was likely chakra did that to protect the newborn without any outside interference. Maybe he was starting to get paranoid in his line of work.

"I'm sorry for the trouble." He apologized galiantly. Normally he would have propositioned the woman, but she was pregnant. He had seen Kushina's sudden and very violent mood swings and had no wish to be on the recieving end of that temper. Even if Ran-san didn't seem the type to blow up over someone looking down at her cleavage.

Ran watched Jiraiya-san walk away before mentally shaking herself before continuing home. She should be used to meeting strange people by now. A perverted toad sage was really just the tip of the ice berg.

With her visit to the Hot Spring over, Ran decided it was time to put her newest plan into action. She found a secluded area of the park she was in and performed the signs for henge. Normally, if one was already wearing a henge, that one was dropped before adding the second one. Naome had discovered though that by doing henge while already using one meant that if it dispelled then she poofed back into Ran, rather than Naome.

When the smoke cleared it revealed a young, black haired boy with brown eyes. He was maybe fourteen and was wearing a hitai-ate and chunin vest. His name was Zoro Roronoa and he was a chunin of Konoha.

Zoro nervously stepped into the library, walking past the registration desk and straight to the academy student section of the library. Naome didn't have a lot of expierience in acting like a guy but she figured it wasn't that hard. Especially as she wasn't exactly girly herself.

Zoro was designed to be naturally a serious boy. Naome had thought about making him younger, a normal academy student or genin for a stretch, but she decided it would be better to try and aim higher. Besides, from what she had observed simply by watching the front doors, no one ever bothered checking anyone's rank or identity unless they tried to check out a book.

Hence, Zoro could see himself spending copius amounts of time in the library over the summer. What a bummer.

"Why is a chunin in this section?" Zoro didn't flinch, he'd heard the man coming. Probably done on purpose so as not to frighten the younger 'boy'.

"Eh, I'm just looking for some beginner's interrogation books." The jounin in front of him had a scruffy beard and a white sash around his waist.

"More curious, why is a _jounin_ here?" He retorted, looking off to the side a little to hide his embarassment.

"Ah, well, the thing is, I'm just doing this for a friend! My nephew starts the academy soon so I thought I'd give him a head start!" He laughed nervously.

"Let me properly introduce myself, I'm Asuma Sarutobi. And you?" Now that the original suspicion and amusment was gone, both had gone back to their first reason for coming to the library.

"Zoro Roronoa, pleasure to meet you Sarutobi-san." Sarutobi was the same surname as the old hokage, the sandaime! He briefly pondered what the relation was. Did the hokage have a son? He wasn't sure and he didn't want to look like an idiot by asking.

"Well, I found what I was looking for, why don't we both check them out?" Asuma offered kindly.

"I'll stay here for a bit longer if it's all the same to you Sarutobi-san." Zoro declined seriously. Asuma shrugged noncomitally and went to check out his book and leave. Zoro sighed in relief when he spotted the older man leaving the building.

That had really been too close for comfort. At least now he knew that the Zoro mask worked just as well as the Ran mask.

He got what he could from the book before replacing it on the shelf. He didn't really exist so he couldn't take out a book, and Naome wasn't really allowed to.

On his walk home, he ducked into an alley and released the second henge, turning back into Ran. Ran continued to her apartment like nothing had happened and a soft smile on her face. Maybe nothing had.

At her apartment she got to work in duplicating the painting of Naome and Shikamaru. She worked on that until about six, when she took a break for dinner. She got tired of all the health food she'd been eating and decided a trip to Ichiraku's was well within her budgets. Besides, it had been well over two weeks since her last visit!

"Hey Naome-chan, been a while since you stopped by. Busy?" Teuchi greeted her.

"Mega! But its summer now so I'm going to unwind and relax! Now, make me some miso and then keep'em coming Teuchi!" She said excitedly. The ramen chef chuckled before handing her a bowl, he had started her order before she had even fully sat down.

"What are you planning?" He asked curiously.

"Hmm, its been a while since I pulled any pranks. I've got a looong list of possible victims!" She chuckled darkly. There was the librarian, maybe that white haired pervert later on, and Shikamaru was a little over due.

_Hokage Tower!_

Hiruzen frowned when he found Naome eating at Ichiraku's. With summer here he had hoped that she would be easier to keep an eye on. This turned out to be a false hope, as it was only just now that the aged kage had found the blonde girl.

Sightings of her had become sporadic at best, and it was worrying him. There was no reason that he could think of that she would be so hard to find in his orb. Even things such as henges couldn't hide someone from him.

"Hokage-sama, please go back to your paperwork and put your little ball away." He slumped a little in his chair when faced with his fiercome secretary.

"Yes ma'am." He mumbled, putting the orb into his drawer. He'd just have to hope that she wasn't doing anything dangerous and go back to his paperwork.

_Back with Naome!_

Naome had gone to her apartment to get some supplies but now she was ready to set off a prank the likes this village had never seen! Now all she had to do was watch the fireworks and chuckle darkly as people ran around like chickens with their heads cut off!

Ahem...She means, now all she has to do is giggle girlishly in glee for her awesome pranking skills. Yeah, that!

"Holy shit! Look at the mountains!" Ah, so someone had finally noticed. Considering she had been working on that for the better part of four hours, she expected to have been caught long before now. Oh well, all the better for her!

The monuments were tributes to the kage, past and present. The great mountain always loomed over the village, their leaders watching over them all. They were as much a part of the scenery as the trees the village was named for.

No one even bothered to notice them anymore, other than knowing they were _there_. Which is what Naome had been counting on while she painted each seperate face using her new tree walking excercise.

On the Shodaime's face was a dipiction of many leaves all over his face. On the Nidaime's face were crashing waves. On the Sandaime's face were numerous books and shinobi weapons in exquisite detail. Finally, on the Yondaime's face were hundreds of tri-ponged kunai, and in the shadows made by the Sun's angle, the Kyubi. The demon he died in defeating.

Personally Naome thought it was a good tribute to each respective kage's greatest achievments and powers. Clearly everyone else just thought someone was mocking them.

Pretty soon those masked shinobi, ANBU, were deployed to find out who did it. Who had the balls to paint over the faces of the kage.

Naome didn't want to advertise her involvment though, and other than taking a couple of pictures of her greatest piece of art, made sure to stay out of sight. Unfortunatly, ANBU weren't considered the best for nothing.

"Put me down!" The ten year old cried uncomfortably. She had been slung over the shoulder of one masked member while innocently walking down the street to her apartment! What's more, she was on her stomach, and it hurt! She hoped this wasn't hurting the baby.

"Naome-chan, why did you deface the monuments?" She had been brought to the hokage tower, apparently for questioning. Good thing she had practiced at lying.

"What makes you think I did it, Hokage-sama?" Hiruzen personally _wasn't_ sure it had been Naome. She struck him as the kind of person who would put something mocking on the faces, rather than the art he saw. It didn't even look like a prank!

"I'm sorry Naome-chan, but your the only suspect." He noticed her shoulders had slumped a little before picking up again.

"...How does anyone expect an academy student to be able to do that without getting caught?" She mumbled. That cemented his opinion on the matter. He remembered when she used to pull pranks and she had always confessed right away, yelling about her amazing abilities.

This did however make him wonder when she had changed so much. She was almost a completely different person! He felt his years when he saw the lack of innocence in her eyes. They weren't sad, or broken, not by any means. That did not excuse the _glint_ in her eyes that he had come to expect from genin after their first kills.

An hour later, the aged hokage was seriously considering seppuku.

"Did you paint the monuments?" Koharu asked the ten year old in front of her.

"For the last time, no I did not!" The blonde answered for nth time.

"Did someone help you?" Homura interjected.

"That would be assuming I did it, which I did not!" If he wasn't so amused by the conversation Hiruzen was sure he would've ended it already. As it were he just puffed on his pipe.

"Your the only one who could've done it." Kohura stated.

"...How? I'm still in the academy! Do you think I can walk on walls or something?" Naome wanted to leave. She probably would have stormed out already but watching the ANBU clean up the monument out the window was funny.

"Do you know anyone who could've done it?" Homura sighed. He had better things to do than interrogate a ten year old. As far as he was concerned, she didn't do it and this was a waste of time because the civilian council couldn't keep their noses in their own business!

"Lots. You guys, all the shinobi in the village, maybe a few from outside it too!" Hiruzen decided that he should end this before Naome lost her temper and said something she'd regret.

"Thank you for your time Naome-chan, you're free to go." He said firmly. The girl sighed in relief before running out of the room to do whatever it was she did in her free time.

Finally free of her little interrogation session, Naome went straight home to enjoy the rest of her day by caring for her plants. The best laid plans fail in the face of mice and men though, so of course she found a visitor waiting for her.

Luckily she had henged into Ran, or things might have been messy.

"Ran-san! You look well!" Ran stared at the obviously drunk man in front of her before she recovered her manners.

"Ichigo-san, were you waiting for me?" She asked, as per routine.

"You should get anything important out of here Ran-san, like your money!" The man slurred.

"Me and my friends are going to burn this place to the ground so that snake bitch will get a hint and leave!" Ran gasped and her skin prickled.

"Ichigo-san, this is my apartment building! You can't burn it down!" She cried desperatly, trying to draw the drunkard to his room and away from anything flamable.

"S'Don't worry! Your insured so you can get your money back!" No, she wasn't insured. No one on the Red Light district was insured. Insurance costed money!

"Ichigo-san, stop this! You can't just burn it down! She's not even here!" Anko was still on her three month mission! She wouldn't be back till July!

Behind her the door opened. She turned around, half hoping it was someone who could help. Instead she found a mob of men with torches.

"Ichigo, this your landlady?" Ran shuddered when she saw the man. She hadn't looked too hard that morning on October tenth, but she remembered him. This was the man who had raped her. This was Hikaru's father.

"Please, don't do this! There's an orphan girl named Tenten who lives on the second floor! I live here! Don't burn down my apartment!" She was shaking, she was scared. She didn't want them to burn down her apartment!

"Ichigo you di'nt tell us she was prego! I-I don't want to burn down a pregnant woman's home!" One of the men said uncertainly, stepping back a little.

"Don't chicken out Raiki! Member how that bitch nearly neutered you!" Ichigo spat.

Ran tried again to get the mob to reconsider but one of them dropped their torch and it lit fire to the chairs. It started to spread, slowly.

Her nerves were going haywire so she did the first thing she could think of. She screamed and tried to beat at the fire with an old rug. The rug caught fire.

"Hey! What's going on here!" Everyone turned to the door to see a dog masked ANBU, bearing the silvery outline on his tattoo that marked him a captain.

"Water style, water dragon jutsu!" Water appeared from nowhere, snaking forward and dousing the flames and all the men and even Ran, although to a lesser extent.

"You are all under arrest for attempted arson!" Before Ran knew what was happening the men were all rounded up, suitably restrained, and the apartment somehow dry.

"Are you alright ma'am?" The dog masked ANBU asked her. Ran wanted to say she was fine, but all that came out were more tears and some shaky breath. Then she realized her water had broken.

"My water broke!" She half screamed half squeeled. That set the ANBU off.

_"WHAT!" _ Kakashi was freaked out. He wasn't sure but he knew water breaking meant babies. He did not want to deal with a woman who was going into labor because some jerk offs tried to burn down her apartment.

"Can't, can't you hold it?" He asked hopefully.

"You can't hold in a baby!" Ran screamed, a contraction choosing then to hit. Oh yeah, these were the real deal. If these were just the contractions what would the actual birth be like? Suddenly going without the pain relievers sounded less than worthwhile.

"Um, should I take you to the hospital?" Dog asked uncertainly. Could she get there on her own? Would she make it in time if she did? What if the baby fell out or something while they were darting over the roof tops?

"Please?" She whimpered, the pain bringing new tears to her eyes. Kakashi didn't need any more encouragment. He put up a chakra flare so that some other ANBU could pick up the trash, bride carried Ran out of there, and turned to the hospital.

He landed in front of the emergency entrance and called for a doctor.

"What's wrong with her?" Asked a nurse when she saw him. Usually when an ANBU had to bring in someone they were fatally injured.

"She's gone into labor." His voice shook a little at the idea.

"Can you tell us who your doctor is?" The nurse questioned Ran as they put her in a wheelchair and pushed her to the maternity ward.

"Hiroshi! We've been planning for a natural birth!" She said a little breathlessly.

"We'll get him for you. Are there any personel you'd like to notify?" They pulled up in front of a room and she was settled into a comfortable bed.

"Y-Yoshino Nara!" Kakashi hadn't left yet. He had followed quietly and now simply stood in the corner. In the heat of the moment, no pun intended, he hadn't taken a good look at the woman he had just saved. Now he did, he wondered if the fates were playing with him.

"Yurichi-san, your not due for some time yet!" Hiroshi scolded her as soon as he stepped into the room.

"I can't help it if trying to keep a mob of drunken men from burning down my home is stressful!" She screamed, another contraction hitting judging from the expression on her face.

"What?" Hiroshi cried in alarm. He noticed the conspicuous ANBU in the corner but decided to see how much she was dilated before doing anything else. Like questioning an ANBU captain.

"Your 4 centimeters dilated. Your in active labor Yurichi-san." He reported to the pained woman.

"Do you want to change your mind about the medication?" She shook her head, teeth clenched to stop a scream. Contractions, plus keeping up a henge, was hard!

"She's in here." The door opened to reveal a nurse leading in the immediate Nara family.

"Oh Ran-san! What happened that you were pushed into labor so early?" Yoshino questioned immediatly, nervously combing the red head's hair out of her face.

"I think I can explain." Shikamaru only noticed that the man was an ANBU captain before he took advantage of the change of attention and looked closely at Naome. He hoped she read his silent question. It had always been a gamble about whether or not she could hold the henge up during labor.

Ran caught his eye and nodded quickly, no contractions yet, but she knew in the next three minutes another one would hit. She was already hating this.

Hiroshi checked her again before determinning that it might be a while before the baby actually got there, asking again if she wanted medication. Again Ran refused, this time stating she wanted to have the baby naturally.

"So, Dog-san, why are you here?" Shikamaru asked curiously. As far as he knew, the ANBU could have just left after getting Ran to the hospital, he hadn't needed to stick around.

"Because I'm not there?" The masked nin offered jokingly. He hadn't known ANBU had a sense of humor.

Yoshino sent Shikaku to Ran's apartment to get the things the baby would need and some things to keep Ran occupied between contractions. He came back with the diaper bag and a couple books from her shelf.

Within a couple hours Ran went to seven centimeters, which signified her going into the final stage of labor. Shikamaru, Dog-san, and Shikaku were all shooed out of the room to the waiting area.

Ran's entire body shook with exhaustion. She wasn't yet at the stage where she had to push but she was far enough along that the nurses had decided having so many people in the delivery room would be counterproductive. Yoshino had argued quite fiercly about not leaving though, so she stayed behind to take the place of Ran's 'partner' for the birth.

"Is it supposed to go this fast?" She asked breathlessly. She had read so many books that said the labor would take a while for first time mothers.

"It's different for every woman Yurichi-san. Don't worry, we both know that your baby is perfectly healthy." Hiroshi reassured her gently. Even though he said it, he kept a watchful eye on the monitors. Such a fast labor might cause the baby to get stuck or tangled in the cord if they weren't careful.

Another hour passed and Ran was given the go ahead to push. Now that she could actually do something the pain took a back row seat. Her face and neck were damp with perspiration and her breathing was coming out in pants.

"You're doing really well Ran!" Yoshino praised her, wiping the sweat from her brow.

With another push she felt something coming out and she dimly registered the crying. Tears sprung to her eyes. That was _her baby boy!_

"How is he?" She asked shakily. Having a baby, the ultimate pain anyone can go through.

"We're taking him to the NICU for a check up. You can see him later. You should get some rest." Hiroshi told her before following after the nurse who had carried away her baby.

Once Ran was alone, the Nara family having been forced to leave so she could rest, she thankfully slipped into a deep sleep, her henge falling. She kept waking up periodically though. Her instincts told her whenever someone came close to the door and she was always half way through the seals for henge before she even fully opened her eyes.

Needless to say she didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night.

The next morning, she was allowed to see her baby. A nurse wheeled her to the NICU. Ran figured she was healed enough to walk, but she didn't protest overly much. She was still tired.

Hikaru had beautiful blonde curls with red along the edges of his bangs. Somehow he managed to inherit both colors at once. She almost squealed in excitment when she saw the two whisker marks on each cheek. He seemed impossibly small and she was almost afraid to accept him when the nurse handed him over.

"Support his head dear, don't worry, you won't break him!" The nurse encouraged her quietly, so as not to wake him up.

"He felt heavier in my stomach." She muttered. He was only just 3 pounds, according to the little chart on the side of his bed. He would've been born a big baby.

"Ah, I heard that you had given birth already!" Ran nearly jumped out of her wheelchair when she heard that booming voice. The nurse beside her scowled and immediatly shooshed the white haired pervert.

"Jiraiya-san, how did you know?" She asked, a little amazed. Who told him? Had he been watching her? What if he knew her secret!

"Do you remember how I told you that your chakra was behaving strangely?" She nodded uncertainly.

"Well, long story short, I asked to be alerted when you went into labor because of that. I didn't expect to get called in so soon though." He joked, quieter this time.

"This is Ko Hyuga, he's going to look at both your's and the baby's chakra." He informed her, moving to the side so she can see the white eyed shinobi.

"Byakugan!" Ko looked at the baby first. The organs were all very well developed, despite his premature birth. He had definitely been feeding off his mother's chakra. The baby's chakra was on the small side, but that was most likely from his premature birth.

Turning his gaze to the mother herself, he noted the untamed chakra that Jiraiya-sama had informed him about. Yurichi-san's chakra seemed large for a civilian, but it was uncontrolled and flared at odd intervals. He studied the hara longer, and it looked like chakra was being produced there directly.

Logically he had to conclude that Yurichi-san, though not a kunoichi, came from a shinobi family. Her son would probably be very talented though.

"Is everything alright?" The woman asked uncertainly, fidgeting a little.

"Hai. Your son will probably make a good shinobi." He told her.

"He's been feeding off your own chakra and it has caused him to develop faster than most. I do not believe he will be here long." They weren't there long at all. In fact, it was only two weeks later that they were released.

Ran closed the front door behind her and collapsed on the couch. She groaned in pain as her chakra drained away. She felt like her whole body weighed a ton. This was the price for having the henge up for the majority of two weeks with little to no sleep and only horrible hospital food to help regain her strength.

Luckily Hikaru was sleeping, so she was able to get in a decent nap. At least until Hikaru began to cry.

Naome felt like crying too when she lifted her head to see Hikaru crying. She only groaned though and forced her weary body to sit up slowly. She reached into the diaper bag and pulled out the things to make a bottle.

She waited for it to heat up and bounced little Hikaru-chan to try and passify him. She tested the milk before finally bringing it to his lips to drink. He sucked greedily and she couldn't help but smile.

"You are Hikaru Uzumaki and I am Naome Uzumaki. I'm your mama and you are my son!" She whispered to him.

"You were born June 5th at 8:23 pm. You were born prematurely but I know you are going to be really strong." She continued saying little tidbits of information, listing them all with a little smile on her face.

"I am going to become a kunoichi, but my dream isn't to be hokage anymore. My dream is to make sure you can grow up safely, here in Konoha." She whispered as she burped him.

She heard the door open and knew it was Shikamaru. He never knocked and he always had this lazy way of shutting the door so it took three seconds longer then it should. He walked into the kitchen and found her gently rocking Hikaru back and forth so he would go back to sleep.

"I just finished feeding him." She said with a big grin.

"I came by because I figured you would be exhausted after holding up a henge for so long." He drawled. He knew Naome had a lot of chakra, but if she kept burning it at this rate, she'd eventually run out.

"I'm going to put him into his basinett then I'm going to sleep!" Naome said decisively. She was going to sleep until school started!

When she had settled down into her bed, he left her room and went to the nursery. He made sure the door hinges didn't squeak as he snuck inside, feeling very much like a child making a run for the cookie jar.

Hikaru had a little name plate over his bed with his name in elegant kanji. He was sleeping on his back with his head lolling to the side. Shikamaru thought he'd still look red, like he had glimpsed when the doctor's carried him away to the NICU. Now though his skin looked almost normal.

The room was filled with toys and clothes, presents from Ran's friends. He noticed that there was a book with baby food recipes on top of the diaper changing counter, definitely from Chrona.

Shikamaru listened to the sound of Hikaru's breathing and then sighed. He could give a hundred reasons why he should cut his losses. A thousand different scenarios had traveled through his mind like lightning but he didn't even blink.

When Hikaru began to cry though and a foul smell filled the air, he didn't even hesitate. He picked up that baby boy like a pro and swept him away to the changing counter.

He could give just one reason why he was going to stick around though, and it had nothing to do with loyalty. The Nara clan are big on self acceptance because of the versatile shadows they wielded. So he knew what he was feeling when he held that baby, and he knew how he felt when he was around Naome.

"Troublesome girl, so troublesome." Hikaru seemed to agree.

He stayed there for most of the day, taking care of Hikaru while Naome slept in the next room. He began to realize how hard it would be for Naome to take care of her son. He had gotten a good night's sleep and he was already dead beat tired.

When Naome woke up filled with energy and eager to play with her son, he left for dinner. Naome fed Hikaru-chan and then changed him too. She layed him down on the floor and tickled his tummy till he giggled.

When she put him in bed and watched him from the rocking chair as he slept, she got to thinking.

Was being a shinobi more important than being a mother to her son? What would she ever do if she was killed on a mission, and her baby boy was all alone? Speaking of missions, who would watch Hikaru-chan if she had to leave for a really long one? She didn't want to leave him alone!

"I'd die if something were to happen to you." He had only been around for a few weeks, unless you counted the months she spent pregnant. She wasn't married, heck the father was rotting in jail after nearly burning down their apartment!

Their. Naome leaned back, reclining in the rocking chair while she thought about that little word. It _was_ little! Almost as impossibly small as her son sleeping not three feet away! Yet when she thought about both of them, she couldn't help but feel it made such a big difference.

Suddenly she didn't just have to worry about herself, training and her diet. Academy work seemed so insignificant now, when held in comparison against the baby in that crib. In fact, the Day Care didn't seem near as good an idea for taking care of him, not when she could do it.

She could drop out. It wouldn't be too easy, Iruka-sensei might come looking for her along with Hokage-sama. She could do it though, with a little work. She could say she didn't want to be a shinobi, that it was too dangerous for her and she was too scared.

The idea rankled her, but she could do it. Having a baby took sacrifice, and if the situation required it, Naome Uzumaki could disappear. Ran Yurichi could take care of her son for years and years without being caught if she had to!

She could even leave the village. Leave behind the stares and comments and neglect of her childhood, the same one that ended all too soon. She could make sure Hikaru never had to know what it was like to go to sleep hungry, or to feel like you didn't exist. He didn't have to live like she did.

She could leave the village. Leave behind Shikamaru and Chouji, Anko and Yoshino, Iruka-sensei and Hokage-sama. She could forget about her past, what made her who she was. She could hide from Hikaru just where he came from. He didn't have to live like she did, but she wasn't sure it was a life worth living.

When Hikaru started to cry she didn't hesitate, just whisked him into her arms and walked off to the kitchen for another bottle. The Shinobi Handbook said your childhood ended when your village handed you that hitai-ate. From then you are an adult who has to act like one too.

Naome's ended June 19th, 11:59 pm. She wouldn't have it any other way. She'd tell you that too.

Within a week she felt she was parenting like a pro. She got used to the small amount of free time she had, and made the most of what she had.

The only thing she was having real problems with, was training. Shikamaru couldn't baby sit all the time but she had to stay in shape and improve. However, Hikaru-chan couldn't go outside a whole lot because it would be too easy for a preemie to get sick.

Naome had never been sick before, but she still worried about Hikaru-chan getting sick. Even a cold could be really serious with such a little baby.

So a week after her decision, she was bundling up her son, henging into Ran, and sneaking off to the forests to train. It was hot out, so she dressed him lightly and set him down in the shade. She made sure he was comfortable on his back before backing away.

First she walked up a tree, a little saddened to learn her control was faltering again. She began with her push ups and sit ups and laps and squats. She did fifty of each then started over again. She wanted to get better and this was the only way to do it.

She practiced kawarmi with random rocks and sticks until she could do it without even looking for something to switch with. Then she tried the bunshin.

Clearly bunshin was a creation made simply to frustrate the Hell out of Naome! No matter what she did, more chakra or less, she just couldn't do it! The clones either came out completely transparent or completely dead. There was no middle ground.

Finally getting fed up with the technique, she stopped trying and decided to do something else. More specifically, the Rope Escape jutsu. It was a D-rank jutsu that could be used to escape just about any knot with little to no effort.

It was taught at the academy, but few actually took the time to study it because it wasn't required and they could always work on something else. Naome loved all things jutsu though, so obviously she asked to be taught all the jutsu the academy had to offer.

Rope Escape jutsu, Condensation jutsu, Spark jutsu, Dusty jutsu, Catfoot jutsu, all of these were offered but she was one of only four kids who decided to learn a few in their year. She asked to learn them all.

Condensation jutsu brought water from the air to fill up a canteen. Spark jutsu could be used to start a camp fire quickly. Dusty jutsu was used whenever someone wanted to clean up their tracks. Catfoot jutsu was used to walk silently over any kind of surface, even bubble wrap!

And yes, she indeed tested out that last one.

All of these were D-rank jutsus, but Naome always thought they deserved something a little higher. After all, when one spends her free time making trouble, one is bound to find outragous uses for innocent things.

Condensation jutsu could be used to make mud. Spark jutsu used to start a fuse. Dusty jutsu to just make a mess of the halls! Catfoot jutsu let her sneak up on just about everybody! See? Crazy and prankster potential uses for innocent jutsu!

When she finished with the Rope Escape jutsu she looked over at her little boy. Hikaru was giggling at a butterfly that kept settling down on his bare tummy. Seeing him like that, she knew that scene would make it on to her next canvas as soon as they got home.

Walking home later as Ran, she decided to put Zoro back to work at the library as soon as the oppurtunity presented itself. First though, she'd have to run out for dango and ramen, not necessarily in that order either.

She somehow got tricked into giving away her son for a day to an overly enthusiastic Yuki Yamanaka the next day, leaving her with plenty of free time. She got that new painting done for Akane and showed her the one she did of her son, before making sure the woman knew she wouldn't sell that one for anything.

She thought about going to the hot springs to relax a little, but she didn't want to accidently meet that white haired pervert again. Something about him struck her as off.

Left with no other alternatives than simply lounging around the home, she transformed into Zoro and went to the library.

There was nothing new or interesting in the Academy section so he moved on to the genin section. Here was where he actually found a book about chakra control and it's numerous excercises. Water walking definitely held appeal.

He made a note of that and then moved a little to the right for the jutsu. He found several D-ranks that weren't taught at the academy and carefully shifted through the ones that didn't have a lot of use to the ones that he could use for a variety of things.

Genin weren't taught a whole lot of chakra costing jutsu or jutsu that could be used for large attacks. It was better to wait for those things when a genin became a chunin and hopefully matured a little. So he was surprised when he found a couple C-rank attack and defense jutsu hidden behind a couple dustier tomes.

They were in an unmarked scroll that Naome knew right away didn't belong in the library. In a past life, she wouldn't have looked past the word C-rank before running out to practice until she ran out of chakra.

Now though, she took a closer look at the scroll handing her a ticket to the fast track in her shinobi career. On the side of the scroll was a symbol she knew fairly well. This was a clan scroll belonging to the Aburame clan. There really was no mistaking the insignia of the beetle on the side.

Zoro felt torn. On the one hand, it was likely these were clan techniques that he couldn't do anyway so he should return it. On the other, he_ so _wanted to take a little peek!

He stood with that scroll in his hands for a few minutes before he finally started moving. First he fixed everything up on the shelf, dusting a couple of the books and making sure nothing else was behind the others. When he was done with that he shoved the scroll into his pocket, still unopened, and left the library.

The Aburame compound was actually inside the Red Light District. Whether this was because they ran out of room or because the Aburame chose to live there depended on who told the story. They lived north east of Naome's apartment, near the border of the district and were avoided regularly. Not many people were comfortable with the bugs sharing their bodies.

The Aburame had never done anything to hurt Naome, and she hated hiding all the time. She dispeled her disguise and walked closer to the compound entrance.

As far as she could see it wasn't guarded, like most other compounds. In fact she wasn't even halted until she almost reached the building. The Aburame lived in a single building, though easily the biggest one in the entire village.

"Uzumaki-san, what is your reason for being in our compound?" She eeped and turned around to see a tall man wearing a jacket similar to Shino's. Did all the Aburame wear those?

"I found something that belongs to you." She stated firmly, pulling out the scroll and handing it over.

The man looked it over for a minute and Naome got a good look at some beetles crawling over his finger. She wondered briefly if it felt funny to have bugs crawling all over you all the time.

"Thank you for returning this. It belongs in our library." Yeah, she kind of guessed that. These guys all said the most obvious things!

"You're welcome." She said, bowing slightly and moving around him to leave.

Shibi Aburame looked long and hard in the direction the young girl had gone off in before going back inside. He had left this scroll purposely in the genin section of the library to see if anyone would bring it back. Naome was the first person to return the scroll.

She didn't go back to the library, deciding instead to practice the new D-ranks she had found. Water walking was also on the to do list. By the time the Summer was over, she'd be ready to kick butt and take names!

She went to training ground seven, a ground normally used by new genin squads and the occasional jounin. Academy students normally used the grounds near the academy itself. However, there weren't any lakes or rivers near the academy to practice her newest skill on.

By the time she had to leave to pick up Hikaru-chan, she was soaked to the bone and didn't feel like she made a whole lot of progress. She waited until she was about three blocks away from the Yamanaka flower shop before henging into Ran and picking up her son, assuring Yuki-chan that she had spent the day relaxing.

Naome wondered if she should be worried that she found it so easy to lie now. Almost easier than telling the truth. Almost. She'd try to keep it that way.

With Hikaru-chan nice and clean from a sink bath and it not being time for a feeding, Naome was left with some play time with her baby boy. Hardly a couple weeks and a day old but he was special. He spent hardly any time at all in the NICU, just a couple weeks.

"Maa, you'd be perfect if you would sleep through the night." She whined quietly when her son dozed off after another bottle. Rather than put him into his crib, she decided that just for tonight he could sleep with her.

Yeah, time started to fly by and Naome hardly had the time to wonder where it had gone. Her amazing energy had reinserted itself and she was once again a ball of bright colors, wearing her old T-shirts religiously simply because she could! Hikaru-chan continued being a source of both love and amusement.

At three weeks old, the remains of the umbilical cord had finally fallen off. He could hold up his head for a couple of seconds, and he focused more on her face now. He'd also gained some weight, which she took as a good sign, since he had been a preemie born a long while early.

At the end of the month, she and Shikamaru spent the entire day doing nothing but playing shogi while Hikaru alternated between sleeping and eating. Shikamaru had taken to showing up a bit before lunch and taking care of Hikaru while Naome did whatever she had to do during the afternoon. It was a system that worked.

"Shikamaru, I'm not sure I ever said thank you." Of course, just because it worked didn't mean she didn't question it.

"Troublesome girl, you're welcome." He muttered, not lifting his gaze from the board. He had been teaching her some strategies and she was really catching on.

"You only promises never to tell anyone about it, but you've helped out a lot." He turned his gaze to her and justified his staring as trying to come up with a good reason for his actions.

Her hair had grown out again, it was below her shoulder blades. She was always saying how she needed to cut it. She was wearing a large T-shirt, a bright orange color, and a pair of beige shorts. He admitted she looked better in this than the dull colors and thick hoodies of before.

"You're my friend, it's not troublesome to help you." He said softly, honing back in on the game.

Naome chuckled at the predictable response and went back to the game as well. They got three more moves in before Hikaru began to cry from the bed.

It was August now and Naome was looking over the progress she had made so far. She had mastered the other D-ranks and the water walking excercise. Her strength training had gone rather well and she had a good base, even without the usual chakra enhancing.

There was still one technique that eluded her best efforts though, and it grated her to no end. Bunshin jutsu, the ultimate party pooper.

Shikamaru and Chouji sat at the edge of the clearing she was practicing in, Shika holding a sleeping Hikaru. The knowledge that her son was sleeping was probably the only thing stopping Naome from going onto a very loud, very bad mouthed, rant.

"I don't understand why she's having so much trouble with it." Chouji mumbled through a mouthful of chips.

"Neither do I, but I know it has something to do with it being the least chakra extensive jutsu out there." Shikamaru responded lazily. Maybe she just didn't have the capacity to use the jutsu. It didn't really matter though, since her grades in everything else was so good. She only had to pass taijutsu, get above a D for genjutsu, pass the written, and get a good score on the target, and she would pass no problem.

Naome finally got fed up with the jutsu and turned to a more interesting pass time. Seeing that her friends were busy talking to each other and not paying attention to her for the moment, she quickly henged into a butterfly to sneak up on them.

Once she was just a few feet from them she henged back to normal.

"Boo!" She cried. Shika and Chouji jumped a mile and her son shifted a little in his sleep.

"Don't do that Naome!" Chouji scolded her, having caught her in a strangle hold while she was busy laughing her ass off.

"Sorry, sorry!" She giggled, not sounding sorry at all.

One month left for summer vacation, Naome wondered what she'd see and do during it. She was walking home as Ran with Hikaru snuggling happily in her arms and the diaper bag slung over one shoulder.

"Ne, tomorrow I'm dropping you off at the Day Care Hikaru-chan. You get to spend the day with babies like you!" She decided on the fly. She needed to take another trip to the library anyway. This time with a pencil and note pad, some of those techniques looked hard.

Hikaru only yawned and dug deeper into the crook of her arm. Ran smiled down at her baby boy and chuckled to herself about what he'd probably be doing while she was gone. Sleeping and eating, not much different except she wouldn't be doing the feeding.

Dog-san was jumping over roof tops after being relieved from border duty when he noticed a familiar red head walking below him. He stopped and subconsciously dipped his head to one side like a curious puppy. Ran Yurichi and Hikaru, the latter of which he had watched being borne into the world.

He thought briefly about going down and formally introducing himself, but held back. He had just been the carrier, and no matter her apparent resemblance to Kushina, they weren't related. He shook his head once, twice, then jumped off again in the opposite direction.

The next day, Ran carried Hikaru to the Day Care just outside the Red Light district. She entered the building and shifted Hikaru in her arms nervously. Mentally shaking her head, she walked up to the front desk.

"Excuse me, I'd like to register Hikaru-chan for Day Care." She said confidently.

"Ah, you just have to fill out a few things if you have the time." The Day Care was used by civilians and shinobi. As such, it along with the orphanages and any other Day Cares, were heavily guarded. A genin team was assigned to the Day Care for week long periods on rotation, sort of like a continuous D-rank.

Ran filled out the usual information needed, such as name, age, and allergies. At the name she hesitated before putting Uzumaki. That's what she had written on the birth certificate, so that was what she was going to write on the little papers!

"Alright Hikaru-chan, say bye bye to Kaa-chan." The sitter cooed to the baby. Ran felt a little regretful when he was lifted out of her arms but she schooled her expression.

Ran ducked into an alley and henged into Zoro before stepping out and going on his way. He took his time, getting his mind into the proper state. A little mental prepping was never amiss.

He turned the corner and spotted the library at the end of the street. He started to speed up his walk a bit when he heard something.

"Oi, Zoro-san!" He stopped uncertainly and turned around. Asuma Sarutobi-san was speed walking over to him, followed by a woman that Zoro knew.

"Sarutobi-san, what a surprise." He said blandly, offering only the tiniest of smiles.

"Allow me to introduce Kurenai-san." The woman was a year older than Zoro appeared to be. He was somewhat surprised to learn that she was a chunin like him though.

"Greetings Kurenai-san." He nodded respectfully.

"I'm Zoro Roronoa." He introduced himself.

"Going to the library again?" Asuma questioned.

"Hai, I figured I should get some more attack based jutsu." He shrugged. Really at this point he'd be happy with anything over D-rank.

"Have you started elemental training yet?" Kurenai asked him. Zoro tried to keep his face neutral but now he was curious. What was elemental training?

"Do you know what your element is?" Asuma asked curiously.

"No." Zoro answered.

"I've got some chakra paper left over from when I was testing mine! Water!" Kurenai said excitedly, pulling some strips of paper out of her kunai pouch.

"Just channel some chakra in and we can see what your element is!" She intructed him. She looked happy to teach him about something like this.

Zoro looked down at the paper, unsure what nature elements had to do with him getting attack jutsu but unwilling to ask for fear of looking stupid. He closed his eyes and sent chakra to his hands. When he opened them the paper had split in half.

"Amazing! Wind affinities are really rare in Konoha!" Asuma mumbled. As far as he knew only himself and his father had a wind affinity at the moment. It looked like Zoro-san was a special case though.

"Well, now that I know we have the same element, I can't leave you alone to struggle through the training!" Asuma chuckled. The library didn't have a whole lot of wind jutsu anyway.

They managed to lead Zoro to a training ground and then began explaining about affinities. They went into descriptions of other nature training styles on his request. They all had something to do with leaves, funnily enough. For instance, with wind you have to try and cut a leaf.

With water, you have to try and soak a leaf. With fire you must burn it. With earth you must make it crumble into dust. Finally, with lightning you must crumple the leaf together like a bad idea written on paper before being tossed into the trash.

"Alright, first we'll start with some jutsu that don't require chakra changing." Asuma sighed. Who knew teaching could be so tiring. Not to say that Zoro was a bad student, he listened and asked good questions, but the work just drained all his energy!

_Boar, Dog, Bird!_ Zoro was busy trying to use Wind Style, Great Breakthrough jutsu. It could create a strong gust of wind to knock down unsuspecting enemies. He was having a little trouble getting the gust strong enough to do what he wanted it to do. Which was knock down a kunai that had been tossed at a branch in a nearby tree.

He released his chakra and the wind swirled from his position straight for the tree. His aim had improved, but the wind wasn't strong enough to knock the kunai down. This was his third try.

"Well, you're getting better. You'll have it down by the end of the week if you practice every day." Asuma shrugged noncomittably. He had gotten bored with the whole teaching thing.

Zoro chuckled at the dozing man before looking to the Sun to gauge the time. He had to meet Shikamaru at Ichiraku's at lunchtime. It was almost noon already.

"Ne, Asuma-san, thank you for teaching this to me but I have to go." He didn't say anything about what he was leaving to do or when they could meet again.

Asuma waved the young chunin off before drawing a cigarette and lighting it up. Zoro was an interesting kid, more so because he was always careful about what he was going to say. Asuma didn't think the boy was too worried about being rude as much as worried about saying something he'd regret later. Maybe he watched his tongue because he used to get in trouble for a smart mouth or something.

He exhaled a long cloud of smoke and thought less on Zoro and more about Kurenai. She was really coming around and he was going to ask her out tomorrow for this weekend. He meant to do it today but he chickened out, and seeing Zoro he had decided to give Kurenai a tiny taste of what teaching would be like if she really wanted to teach genin after making jounin.

Zoro dispelled his henge and returned to Naome form before coming within sight of the Ichiraku ramen stand. Her stomach growled as she smelled the familiar scents of the heavenly noodles.

Naome was wolfing down ramen before Shikamaru even finished his half hearted greeting. She hadn't had ramen in forever!

"Naome-chan, what are you doing over the summer? We've barely caught a glimpse of you since school let out." She had been busy with Hikaru-chan. So busy that ramen had taken a back seat to diapers! Clearly she had commited some unforgivable sin to the ramen Gods.

"Training, hanging out with friends, nothing new." She answered through a mouthful of noodles.

"Are you alright? You look a little tired." Naome swallowed this time before she answered.

"Tired? Me? Where have you been the last ten years? I could run around the entire village fifty times before I got tired!" She declared hotly. _(Somewhere in Konoha, the green beast sneezed)._

"Just been training extra hard! I've gotta be hokage after all!" She declared.

Beside her Shikamaru looked up from his ramen and stared. She still wanted to be Hokage, after everything that had happened. That was still the motivation behind all her training. Becoming pregnant was why she started taking it seriously, and the level of improvement he saw was astounding.

If she wanted to be hokage, he highly doubted anything would be able to stop her. Troublesome girl was too stubborn.

Ran arrived at the Day Care earlier than she meant to, but she guessed it was inevitable. She still wasn't comfortable with leaving him with a sitter for so long. She signed her name and went to the back where the babies were kept.

Hikaru was lying on his stomach, he held his head up just a little and Ran wondered why he was ahead of everyone else. He was a preemie, so technically he should've been behind everyone else, but he was progressing pretty quickly from what she could see.

Inwardly grinning like a loon and thinking about how her son was a little genius, she swept the little baby into her arms, careful to support his head. She cooed happily to the startled baby until he relaxed into her grip and then she turned to leave.

"Excuse me Ran-san, but would it be too much trouble to ask you to fill out something? We need an emergency contact in case something happens." Ran smiled and handed over the baby to accept the papers. She scanned the requirments for a contact and eventually put down a name she could only pray didn't hurt her later.

Hopefully, Anko Mitarashi would never have to find out about this. If she did, hopefully she wouldn't be too angry. Ran had witnessed that anger, and she wanted it in no way directed towards her.

The final month before school started went by in a flash, but she felt pretty satisfied. She mastered the Great Breakthrough jutsu and the Kaze no Yaiba jutsu, which she could make cut down a whole tree now! The Leaf cutting excercise wasn't producing much but Asuma-san did say that it was for chunin and she was only ten, so she wouldn't go on any tangents about it.

Zoro also bought some weights and a new mask named Tia bought some long sleeved feminine clothing. Naome found herself in need of a training bra and figured she may as well show off what little she had. Yep, her boobs were still large and in charge and she was taking advantage of it.

The weights were ten pounds each, one on each limb and on her torso. It had taken three weeks to be able to walk like this and she knew she had to up the amount again soon. She was almost used to the weight! Probably from all that time carrying Hikaru in her stomach.

Her new outfit was a blue bandana around her forehead to keep her bangs out of her eyes. The top was a simple, dark orange long-sleeved shirt that fit snuggly but she wouldn't outgrow too soon. She at first wanted a tank top but then she thought about how those showed off a bit too much skin, and she hadn't lost all of the pregnancy fat. The bottom were bell pants that hit mid-calf before ending.

Where the pants ended, the leg warmers that held her leg weights started. The pants were a dull brown but she thought they looked nice with her top. The warmers were smallish, because she made Tia a little younger than her, but they fit fine. They were also a deep blue, like night with a full moon.

Standing in front of the bathroom mirror now on her first day of school, Naome doubted that she looked anything less than howt! Her foxy grin appeared on her features as she fantasized about the way the jaws at the academy would drop when she walked in.

"WAAAHHH!" Well, if she ever got Hikaru-chan fed and dropped off at the Day Care anyway. She sighed extravagantly before henging into Ran and picking up her son and diaper bag before heading out the door.

She dropped him off as fast as she could, but she was almost late to class anyway. She stepped into the door and took a second to catch her breath before taking a seat next to Shikamaru, who was of course sleeping. Did anyone expect any less of him?

"Welcome back class, I hope you had a good break." Iruka greeted them happily. Mizuki yawned a greeting before holding his chin in one hand and trying to stay awake. Naome was used to little sleep though, thanks to Hikaru-chan.

"Alright then, let's call roll." Naome instantly grew bored and thought about all the cool stuff she could be doing if she wasn't in class. She could be pranking someone, she could be waiting to say hi to Anko who would be back any day now, she could be training on the leaf cutting excercise. So many things to do during a boring school day.

"Naome Uzumaki?" The afore called girl yelped in pain as an elbow found it's way into her side. She glared to her right, where Kiba Inuzuka and Akamaru were sitting.

"Nice to see you here on time for a change Naome." She stopped trying to burn a hole through the dog boy's head and turned to look at Iruka-sensei.

"I've gotten better, but sometimes I think that I could better spend the day actually throwing kunai rather than trying to figure out the percent of force needed to send it through an enemy on paper." She said seriously, forcing herself to keep an innocently blank face mixed with obvious boredom. Yeah, those books on psychology books really helped.

"Wow Naome, you _do_ have a sense of fashion!" Sakura cried in shock. Obviously she hadn't been paying to much attention to the blonde in the back row.

"Yeah, those hoodies were _ugly!"_ Kiba shuddered, emphasising the amount of awful the clothes were.

"Ne, I had my reasons. Stealth training and all that!" She chuckled, thinking back on how few times she got caught pranking now. She was awesome! She ruled all kinds of cool!

"'Sides, you don't do anything about that ugly mug of your's so I decided to give the general populace something easier on the eyes to look at. Some eye candy if you will!" She enjoyed the snickers from her fellow children and the glare from Kiba.

"That's enough now class, we have to get on with today's lesson. First, I'd like to inform everyone that this year more classes will be seperated by sex but you are able to switch between classes as you wish, so long as the one you're actually assigned in has good grades." He read off a little pamphlet. This year the girls would be doing things like calligraphy and painting and flower arranging and geisha stuff.

He passed out a list of the courses to all the girls along with the usual schedule. Naome immediately crossed out painting, she didn't need help with that. Calligraphy would be alright, since she knew from Tenten-san that they practiced it by cracking codes. Geisha stuff was right up her alley, since she lived in the Red Light district she knew a few decent women who would sometimes help her out.

Flower arranging was something she wasn't interested in at all. Not in the slightest. They weren't even allowed to mess with poisonous things or even medicinal herbs! She wanted to learn about those, why wasn't there a course for stuff like that?

She sighed to herself as she thought about the two classes she was taking and what she could substitute for the other two. The Shinobi courses looked so much more interesting! Advanced Shinobi Tools, Stealth Techniques, Tracking, and even Strategies sounded better than what she had.

Naome sighed as she decided to take Stealth Techniques and Tracking rather than Flowers and Painting. With that, she turned in her choices and rejoined the real world. The real world apparently finding complex math problems about flying kunai important.

"I could sell my soul for a calculator." She finally decided.

"Troublesome girl." Oh well, at least she still had her pals.

By the end of the day she was more than ready for graduation. She was ahead of _everybody!_ Even Sasuke couldn't give her anything to work against anymore! She was bored! So bored! She had the need, the need for multicolored paints and bright colored smoke bombs and trip wire!

Naome burst out the door to the academy and had to physically restrain herself from screaming "Freedom"! at the top of her lungs. It was a close call though.

Shikamaru and Chouji both had clan training today though, so she was on her own. She henged into Ran and walked to the Day Care. She missed her baby boy!

She picked him up and signed him out before heading off. She decided it was nice enough out that taking a walk in one of the many parks of Konoha wouldn't be amiss.

"Hmm, what to do with the rest of the day." She muttered to Hikaru. He was resting against her chest but his little eyes were honed in on her.

"Maa, kaa-chan needs to work out and get in shape. Hmm, we could go grocery shopping, we're running a little low. We could go surprise Yoshino-san with a visit." Hard to believe that before getting pregnant, her hardest decision was whether she wanted five bowls of ramen or just the one.

Ran opened the doors to her apartment and shifted Hikaru's weight in her arms. She was just about to go into her own home when someone spoke out.

"Hey Ran! Long time no see! Did'ya miss me?" Ran chuckled and turned back around to see Anko standing behind her with a plate of dango.

"What the-! Is this teeny tiny thing the big baby you were expecting?" Ran laughed again and invited Anko inside. She could always use dango.

"Hmm, I shall be making a visit to Ibiki later then. Can't let these no good men walk around still men after threatening a pregnant woman, can we?" Anko said with finalty after the story ended.

"Ibiki?" She remembered him from the lecture he gave at the academy! The head of T&I!

"He's head of T&I division. I need to go to him to find out these fucker's names." Ran wasn't sure that was a good thing.

Anko looked rather amusing, half a stick of dango in her mouth and a baby laying on her chest. Ran made sure to memorize that scene so she could paint it later. Which reminded her, she needed to buy some new paints.

"Oh yeah, here's my three month's rent!" Anko handed over a larger wad of cash than Ran could ever remember seeing. Dear Kami, A-ranks must pay well!

"I've never realized how much money I make. I usually spend it too quickly." She mumbled to herself. Anko snickered at her slack jaw before turning to the baby sleeping on her chest.

Hikaru probably got the blonde hair from his daddy, whoever the dick who left Ran-chan was. Although, the red streaks were pretty bad ass looking. He'd be a lady killer in a few years! Anko wondered if he'd have a taste for dango. How old did a baby have to be to eat solid food again?

Anko was stunned a little spit like Ran had the guts to stand up to a mob of drunken men. Maybe working in a tavern gave her experience or something. She looked around the room and marveled at how much it had changed in just three months.

There was a painting of little Hikaru in a clearing. A side view picture of the Hokage monuments that gave the perfect angle for the Yondaime to shine. There was even a sad one of the memorial stone and what appeared to be a man looking down at the names.

Anko's brows shot into her hairline and she moved closer. Yep, the man had silver hair and was holding a little orange book.

"AHAHAHAHAHA!" She gasped, weakly falling back onto the couch. Hikaru was shocked awake and started to cry. Ran plucked him up quickly and calmed him down while she waited for Anko to finish.

"What's so funny?" She finally asked with a pout.

"You painted Kakashi!" She lifted an eye brow and turned around to look at the painting the older woman had been studying. She had found him on one of her walks and memorized it to paint later. The silver hair reminded her of the mysterious Dog-san ANBU who took her to the hospital.

"Huh, so that is Dog-san's name. He's the ANBU who carried me to the hospital." She informed Anko.

Anko Mitarashi looked like Christmas had come early this year. Not only was there a painting of Kakashi Hatake _brooding_ but he was the ANBU that whisked Ran to the hospital? This was just too rich.

"Ran, you _have_ to let me bring him here to see this! I'll buy you all the dango you want and not take a single bite!" The purple haired woman swore.

"To see a painting? Well, I guess you can. I'm holding you to the dango thing though." No sooner was the permission out than Anko was out the door crying about finding a certain 'Silver haired pervert'.

Ran wondered what she had just gotten herself in to. Oh well, it couldn't be that bad, could it?

"Anko, why did you drag me into a civilian woman's home?" Evidently it could be bad. Anko had apparently kidnapped the man while he was on duty. Although he didn't look all that mad about it.

"Because she painted you in front of the stone brooding and crying crocodile tears!" The woman answered her captive happily. Ran had placed Hikaru into his basinett before they arrived, and she was glad she had.

"She did?" He raised a challenging look at his captor. Ran wondered what expression he was making under that cloth mask.

"I'm sorry Dog-san, I walked past you like that and thought it would look nice on my canvas." She apologized profusely. She really did not need a shinobi ANBU guy angry with her. She had a baby to think about!

"Maa, you can call me Kakashi when I'm not wearing the mask." He waved her off. She wondered what that orange book was. His eye was practically glued to it. What happened to his other eye?

Kakashi looked at the portrait and admitted privately that she had done a good job. It was painted at the right angle, so you could see his eye. In his right hand was his ICHA ICHA but it was shaded a darker color, like it was in mourning.

"It's well done." He wondered if the fates were messing with him. Why did he keep meeting the same Kushina-look alike civilian? He hadn't known Anko was on speaking terms with _anyone_ who didn't carry large amounts of metal on their person.

"Thank you. I think it's one of my best." She replied graciously. She offered it to him but he refused. Eventually Anko stopped pouting about the lack of visible reaction in the ANBU and scared him off to who knew where.

"Well, he was rather interesting." She sighed, sitting back down on her couch now that it was just Anko and her.

"One day, just one day I'd like the chance to see more than a fraction of that skin." Anko sighed dreamily, her face getting a little red. Ran knew a crush when she saw one.

"So you like him?" She asked innocently. She never got to play these kinds of games with people her own age!

"Ran, I tell you this in the strictest security and trust. I want him naked, in my bed, with me on top of him doing very naughty things to his lower regions." Ran couldn't help bursting into laughter at the face Anko made when describing her little wet dream.

"Well, I know the way to a man's heart is through his stomach but I'd have to ask around to find the secret combination for the pants zipper." She joked. Anko looked scandalized, obviously not expecting someone like Ran to make a joke like that.

"Aha! I've rubbed off on you!" She cried victoriously.

"I guess you have!" She nodded.

When Anko left she dispeled the henge and went to the canvas. She still had that scene with Anko and Hikaru-chan to sketch then paint. She took out her supplies and donned an apron. She tied back all her hair and sat in front of the white sheet.

First she did the background, putting in the couch, the walls, and the scene out the window. Naome dipped her brush into the yellow and swiped it gently over the wall area. She took a deep breath before continuing the process. She put in Anko, and little Hikaru-chan laying on her chest.

With a finer brush she put in the dango stick. At first she reached for a shade of brown, but then changed her mind half way through and dipped it into the Quicksilver. The dango stick became a senbon. This was the way of most of her paintings, she'd start something and then change her mind and suddenly the mood of the picture took a drastic change.

This always seemed to happen to the paintings that had anything to do with ninja. Even the monuments had been done thinking about each one's acomplishments and the consequences of their mistakes. The Kakashi painting had looked peaceful to her but when she was finished it was that of a man in mourning.

Now this one of Anko and her son, it had darker shades than she had first envisioned. That of a Kunoichi who couldn't leave behind her career in presence of even a child.

When she heard her son cry she went right away. She never looked at the paintings until they were finished. She liked not knowing just how they'd turn out.

When she laid him back down, she again started the painting. The gentle curl of her son's hair, and the bunched up fishnet in his curled fist. The amused yet guarded expression of a friend. The sharp lines of her hair.

Naome finished the painting and left it out to dry. She fed Hikaru-chan again, then changed him. By now it was late. She made a small dinner, just some sashimi. She downed the fish then decided she would sleep.

It was a couple hours before she managed to follow through with that.

_Two Months Later!_

With two months behind her, Naome found herself in class with an old friend. Nausea sucked so badly. She had woken up feeling fine, if a little tired. She had taken a shower, fed and washed Hikaru-chan, dropped him off, and was at school a whole hour before it started up.

She could feel the fish she ate just last night swimming upstream. Naome groaned quietly and tried to think of something to calm her stomach. Of course, her silent prayers went unheard by the Gods and the feeling seemed to magnify.

"Sensei, may I be excused?" She asked, raising her hand weakly and trying not to fidget under the curious stares of her friends.

"Go ahead." Iruka remembered what had happened the last time he hadn't trusted his gut when it said something was wrong. He still swore he could smell it when he passed out tests to the back of the room.

Naome needed no further urging and was out the door with a hand over her mouth before anyone could blink. Yeah, all that training had made her pretty fast.

When she managed to calm her stomach down enough so she wasn't in danger of losing the ramen she ate last week, she went back to class.

Iruka wanted to take her home, but Mizuki-sensei wasn't here today. He had taken a vacation half a week ago and wouldn't be back for another. He resolved to wait it out until lunch and hope Naome could stomach it.

When lunch time came around with Naome running a fever and asleep on her desk, Iruka turned to Shikamaru. They were friends, more if the rumors were to believed, maybe he could convince the lazy boy to take her home?

"No problem." Shikamaru answered tiredly, sounding like there was a rather big problem indeed. He managed to rouse Naome enough to walk and then led her off the grounds and all the way home.

When she was lying in bed he thought about whether or not going back to class was worth it. Naome might need him, not to mention that the Day Care would only take care of Hikaru for so long. Someone would have to pick him up.

Naome was asleep in bed and he took the chance to think about what to do. Hikaru had to be picked up at three thirty. He wasn't on the pick up list because he was too young.

"Troublesome." He muttered, looking at his options. He could go to either his mother, or the crazy Tokubetsu Jounin who lived here. His mother would be unbearable and no doubt would insist on taking care of 'Ran' while she was sick. Not to mention asking uncomfortable questions like why Shikamaru was here rather than at class. Especially since he shouldn't know that 'Ran' was sick.

"No help for it, I'll have to ask that Anko lady to do it. Maybe I can keep her outside?" He resisted the urge to mutter troublesome a few times. They really needed a better contingency plan than this for if something happened to Naome. Why hadn't he planned for this occasion?

He checked the papers at the front desk and figured out that Anko lived on an apartment on the same floor. He hoped she was home.

He knocked on the door. He waited a few seconds before the door opened, revealing a messy headed woman in the midst of a wide yawn.

"Anko-san, may I ask a favor? It's about Ran." He added quickly when it looked like she was going to slam the door.

"What's wrong with her?" Anko yawned again. She had been taking a nap when Shikamaru knocked on her door. Wasn't a brat like him supposed to be at the academy?

"She's sick and needs someone to pick up Hikaru from Day Care. You're on her emergency check out list." He told her. He felt the urge to add 'troublesome' somewhere in there, but this was a very troublesome woman, so he stopped himself. Stupid family speech quirk.

"Course I will." She said simply before closing the door. Shikamaru sighed quietly and went back to Naome. He'd have to tell her to be ready for a henge, even if she was sick.

When he came back to find her puking her brains out, he knew she wouldn't be able to keep it up. Morning sickness had been a recurring problem and Naome was often forced to call in sick at work in order to not blow her cover. It's hard to hold a henge when you're barfing your guts out.

Her reaction was one he had suspected. First, rage about how he should've told her before going to Anko. Then fear that she would see her as Naome. Then worry about getting Hikaru sick. She was so troublesome.

Anko chewed on the dango stick between her lips as she walked down the street. Things had started improving when it came to the civilians' treatment of her, but she hardly noticed anymore. She had something much more important to think about.

How did that Nara brat know Ran was sick when he was meant to be at the academy? Why wasn't Yoshino or someone there to do this? Why was _she_ of all people on the check out list? She knew Ran and her were friends and all, but she couldn't take care of children! Especially small children that cried and wet themselves!

When she entered the Day Care, she tried to ignore the sudden flourishing of whispers that followed her. She wasn't there for their entertainment, she was there for a friend. If they wanted to start some rumors, fine! It wasn't her kid!

"Hello? I'm here to pick up Hikaru. I'm Anko Mitarashi." She introduced herself to one of the genin working there. A girl wearing a pink chinese style top and brown hair held in buns. Come to think of it, that's the girl who lived in the apartment above her!

"Okay, you're on the pick up list. You just sign your name here and then go get him." Tenten told her, pointing to the dotted line. Anko smacked her name down then went to the back. There she found Hikaru-chan being played with by a boy she could've sworn was Gai's illegitimate child. Dear Kami, was the man asexual? Did he _bud?_

"Oi gaki, I'm here to take Hikaru-chan home to his kaa-chan." She said gruffly. She wasn't sure how to treat the mini Gai clone.

"Ah! You must be a friend of the Youthful Uzumaki-san!" Anko wasn't sure what the vessal had to do with this so she only accepted the baby and diaper bag. She decided to get out of there before the gaki's talk of Youth infected Ran's kid.

Anko was walking by the desk, thinking about the offhand comment about Uzumaki, when she glimpsed the sign out sheet lying next to the one Tenten had pulled out with Hikaru's info sheet. Her eyes honed in on one important detail.

Hikaru's last name was Uzumaki.

Anko wasn't sure what to make of this situation, but she knew how to get answers. It was possible that Ran's mysterious lover had been related to the Uzumaki girl. And Ran did know Naome Uzumaki, so it wasn't much of a stretch.

Anko's eyes narrowed though as she thought about it. There had always been things about Ran that didn't add up. The first being that she had come out of nowhere and bought old woman Rukia's apartment before the woman left town. Anko didn't know anyone who knew Ran before, and in the Red Light district, everybody knew everyone.

She looked down at the baby in her arms and wondered some more. The whisker marks on the boy's cheeks. Were they hereditary? Was Naome Uzumaki and Ran's mysterious lover somehow related? She held the baby closer and pondered some more.

Ran moved more like a dancer, but less like a shinobi. Of course, that could be a sign of an academy student in their late years. Maybe she had been in the academy but dropped out? Things like that tended to stick around as habits. Or maybe she was just confident in the way she moved, it had happened before and it often led to a background check on civilians, to make sure they weren't enemies in disguise.

Anko's heart sped up and her stomach gave a very painful lurch. She stopped in the middle of the street with a sleeping baby in her arms as she thought about what happened to spies. She didn't want to think that Ran was a spy though. Didn't want to believe that their friendship had been a ruse from the start.

She didn't want to lose a friend over something like some suspicions and a last name. She steeled herself though and kept walking. If Ran turned out to be a threat, then for the good of the village, Anko would eleminate her personally.

And if Shikamaru Nara was involved in this conspiracy, then Shikaku should've raised his brat better.

She snuck into the apartment and made way to the master bedroom. She fell into view when she saw who was sitting on the bed. Nearly gave the kid a heart attack too.

"What are you doing here? Where is Ran?" Anko asked first, before either child could think of something to say.

_Several Hours Later...Nah, not really. Just one hour. I didn't want to do the whole explanation._

"Wow. You mean I've been buddies with a ten year old rape victim and single mama all this time?" This was a lot to take in.

"I'll be eleven next Friday if that helps." Naome mumbled. She had just gotten through with proving once again, that yes, her henges were solid. It felt good to let other people know, but that made three. Seriously, how long until the whole village knew her secret?

"Anko-san, this is all so very troublesome, but please don't tell anyone about this!" Shikamaru sounded a lot more passioned than Naome had ever heard before. He sounded like he really cared about them. She couldn't help but smile.

"Who said I was going to tell? I'm no rat! Although, you Naome owe me so much dango for this!" The woman broke off from her psuedo angry tangent when she thought of all the dango she could make the blonde girl buy for her.

"You're not angry?" Naome blinked. She couldn't help it! She'd had so many nightmares about people finding out and Hikaru-chan getting taken away that such quiet acceptance set her off balance.

The force of her fever broke through the mental barricades she had erected during their talk and she groaned before cradeling her head in her hands. It felt like her head was going to be split open!

"Ne, take a nap girly! Nara gaki and I'll take care of Hikaru-chan till you're better!" Anko waved the girl off. She still needed some time to think and sort through all this, but she wasn't angry. No, she was relieved. Because she knew now that she did have a true friend. Naome didn't make friends with her because she wanted to protect her secret, if she had wanted to do that she would've avoided any shinobi!

She was just relieved that she hadn't lost her only friend.

Naome got better within a day. She happily retrieved her son from the overwhelmed hands of Anko. Apparently nobody had told her that taking care of babies meant very little sleep. Something Anko was very fond of.

With that crisis everted and a new ally, things were looking good. Then the Kyuubi festival started. October tenth, the day that the Yondaime defeated the nine tailed demon fox. Naome's birthday, that she hated. Finally, the anniversary of being raped.

She was comforted by not waking up to a burning building, but she was still on guard. Civilians didn't know where she lived, so she figured the apartment was safe so long as all the curtains were drawn.

Then of course, Anko decided Naome needed to face her fears and confront the stupid villagers by going out for a night on the town. Anko wanted to celebrate her birthday by taking her out to the festival for the first time. Yeah, not helping at all.

"Come Oooooonnnn!" Anko whined, trying to wrestle the blonde into a cute orange kimono with blue wave designs. It looked totally cute on the now eleven year old! Anko still thought of Naome as her younger sister, whether or not she was pretending to be Ran.

Actually, Anko thought the whole thing was hilarious. It was like one giant prank. Nobody knew that Ran was a mask and nobody was going to find out! An Academy student was fooling every John, Dick, and Harry in the entire village! Ha!

"No means no Anko-nee! I don't want to go out! Besides, someone has to watch Hikaru-chan!" Naome tried to argue but it was pointless. Besides, she did kind of want to go. She had always wanted to go to the celebration and see the fireworks go off. She wanted to be able to stand in that crowd without any stares.

"I already arranged for a sitter! Nai-chan owed me some favors and she likes kids, so it's a win-win!" Anko argued back. Anko had been surprised to learn that 'Ran' had met Kurenai before but really, it shouldn't have. Ran seemed to know everybody.

"But!-" The kimono was forced over her head. Naome huffed a little but gave up the fight and simply let Anko use her as a life size doll. She still hated October tenth. Abso-fucking-lutely she did. She just wanted to see the fireworks and hang out with Shikamaru and Chouji. That's all.

She still hated it, and she probably always would. It wasn't a good day. Not like June 8th. That was a good day, a really good day! It was the day her baby was born!

Naome studied herself in the mirror. Her hair was up in a stylish bun. The kimono obi was tied elegantly. She was wearing those big wooden clog things that forced her to take tiny steps or fall flat on her face all the time.

Still, she thought she didn't look too badly. If she dared to say it, she'd say she looked downright girly! Naome chuckled when she thought of what some of her classmates might think if they saw her before she remembered that she wasn't supposed to like this.

She was only doing this because Anko-nee wanted to celebrate her birthday. She still hated October tenth. She hated everything about it.

Still, tonight might be fun.

**END OF THE CHAPTER WOOT! I AM AWESOME! PRAISE BE TO THE ULTIMATE, ME!**

LC; Alrightie then, it's finally done!

Naruto; Geez, another almost 20,000 word chapter?

Sasuke; Usually your chapters have only about 3,000.

LC; Yeah, but I felt a little ambitious!

Naruto; Ahem. The Anko Discovery scene?

LC; What?...Oh yeah! This scene was the idea of Nayami-chan! She helped!

Naruto; Yeah, the whole, Naome getting sick to Anko finding out.

Sasuke; All that was the pen-author Nayami-chan.

LC; Well, I put all the details, but the basic plot for that was her's. Thanks Nayami-chan!


	3. Revelations

LC; Alrightie then! Time for more Naome and Hikaru-chan!

Naruto; Good for you, you got bored and are again typing on this!

Sasuke; Quick question, what do you do if you're not typing?

LC; Usually I watch anime so that I can better write for them.

Naruto; And when you are typing you are always listening to youtube!

Sasuke; Which gives you disturbing ideas, like this.

LC; You guys are being boring. Do something fun!

Naruto; We are fun! Believe it!

Sasuke; Did you really just say that?

Naruto; Nani? I didn't say that! She made me say it!

Disclaimer; I do not own Naruto. I don't own him. I don't own him...Oh who am I kidding? I totally own him!...Well...I own his child.

Chapter 3; Year number eleven.

Naome hesitantly followed Anko out of the apartment and through the crowding streets. So far so good, nobody was throwing rocks or jeering at her or shouting for her to go elsewhere. Then again, this was the Red Light district, nobody sold anyone else out in the red light district. Not even the village pariah.

They left the district behind though and Naome unconciously tried to make herself look smaller. She walked a little closer to Anko-nee and bent her head down a little.

Anko mentally sighed when she saw Naome's actions. She had hoped just being with her would make the little gaki open up a little more. Maybe she had to say something? Inspire the gaki to show off that impressive backbone hidden under the knots of the obi on her kimono?

"Oi Naome-chan, look up." The fireworks had started. Naome obeyed the order and immediately smiled. The bright colors going off in the sky, the amazing designs from the explosions, the loud explosions right before they went off.

Anko grinned when she saw the kid's reaction. Inwardly labeling the night a success just because she made Naome-chan smile and lift her chin.

From there it was easier. The people actually didn't pay much attention to Naome. Maybe because she was harder to spot in a crowd, maybe because Anko was with her, or maybe because they just didn't want to be bothered with her tonight.

Anko dragged Naome to some games, like the one where you have to knock down the pyramid of bottles. Naome won a stuffed bear and a toy ANBU mask from that. Afterwards they ate some fair food, watched the fireworks with the rest of the crowd, and basically enjoyed feeling like regular people for once.

Eventually the main events started to taper off so Anko-nee and Naome decided to head back to the apartment. By now, Naome was pretty sure that she had finally had a birthday like everyother kid her age, just normal. She was feeling pretty good about it all!

She hadn't been able to hang out with Shikamaru or Chouji, but she guessed it couldn't be helped. They had to stay with their families and she was still worried that Yoshino and Chrona might not like her as Naome like they did when she was Ran.

"Anko-nee, when is Kurenai-san dropping off Hikaru-chan?" Naome asked when they turned down the corner and officially entered the Red Light district.

"I said I'd be by to pick up the runt around midnight, so in about an hour I gotta get moving." The woman answered her. Kurenai had been surprised when Anko Mitarashi of all people showed up asking for a favor, or maybe she was more surprised by the baby in Anko's arms at the time.

"Alright then." Naome hoped Kurenai-san was able to get Hikaru-chan to bed without too much trouble.

Anko stopped Naome roughly when she looked around a corner to see Kurenai sitting on the steps to the apartment with her head in her hands. No Hikaru-chan in sight.

"Naome, henge into Ran." She ordered quietly, already walking out from behind the corner.

Naome felt a twinge of fear as she did so. She made sure Ran was perfect, despite her nerves, before following the toku jounin. She saw Kurenai there without her son and immediately went cold.

"Kurenai-san, where's Hikaru-chan?" She asked uncertainly. Anko was kneeling beside the distraught chunin and trying to get her to tell what was wrong.

"Ran-san, gomenasai! Everything was going fine but-!" Kurenai half sobbed. As a kunoichi, maybe she should be expected to keep better control over her emotions. However, never before had something like this happened. She had lost teammates before, in a mission gone sour, but never an infant. Not in the village.

"Where's my son?" Ran demanded. Her body had started to tremble and she was already fearing the worst.

"I had laid him down to sleep and half an hour later I came back in to check on him, and he wasn't breathing!" _SIDS_ ran across the red haired woman's mind before she could stop it.

"I took him to the hospital, then came to look for you. When I couldn't find you I came to your apartment to wait." Ran couldn't breathe. She was already picturing her baby boy in a tiny coffin.

"We're going." Anko said quickly, sweeping up the red head and darting over the roofs. Ran felt the tears in her eyes being swept away by the wind but she hardly noticed. She only willed Anko to go faster, to take her to her son.

"Give me the room with Hikaru Uzumaki." Ran demanded of the front desk woman.

"Relation?" The nurse asked uncertainly. It was her first day on the job and she wasn't used to hysterical women coming up and demanding rooms.

"I'm his mother!" The red haired woman practically screamed at the woman. She didn't want to waste time. She had to know her baby boy was alright!

"NICU." Ran dashed down the halls almost before the nurse could finish. Anko and Kurenai followed after, both worried for Ran and Hikaru.

When Ran saw Hikaru-chan with a tube in his mouth to make him breathe she almost cried. Instead she jogged over to his tiny crib and reached out to rub her hand across his whiskered cheeks.

"Don't worry Yurichi-san, we have him stabalized and he should be fine. You can take him home in the morning." A doctor assured her. He had been in the room the whole time but she hadn't noticed.

"We were lucky this time, he was brought quickly enough that there was no lasting damage to lungs or brain. We were able to get him breathing again, the tube is just a security measure." She nodded dumbly and let out a shaky sigh of relief. Her baby boy was breathing and safe.

"Gomenasai Ran-san. I should've kept a better eye on him." Kurenai apologized again. She hadn't meant for something like this to happen.

"It wasn't your fault Kurenai-san." Ran said softly, giving a reassuring smile to the older woman.

"It probably would've happened no matter _who_ was watching him. Maybe he wouldn't even still be alive. Heaven knows I might not have checked up on him like you did." She added when the woman didn't look particularly reassured.

They ended up staying in a room just off from the NICU. Only Ran was allowed to frequently move between the rooms. At one point Anko tried to get Kurenai to go home but the red eyed chunin refused. She wanted to make double sure that Hikaru-chan would be alright.

Finally the Sun came up and around eight, Hikaru-chan was written off as fully healthy and ready to go back home. Ran gratefully accepted her covered up baby boy before thanking the hospital staff who had cared for him. She wrote a check to pay for the treatment, and left with Anko and Kurenai.

"Don't you ever worry kaa-chan like that again young man." She cooed threateningly at the bundle in her arms. He only smiled at the sound of her voice.

By Monday morning, routine had once again taken over in the Uzumaki household. Naome henged into Ran and dropped off Hikaru, dispelled the henge, then went to the academy. She was feeling better all the time, especially since she had managed to catch up on lost sleep when Shikamaru showed up later that Sunday.

Now back in class, Naome had to suffer through yet another day of kunoichi lessons. Calligraphy was endless repetitive strokes of an ink soaked brush on a piece of paper. True, they were cracking codes, but there was only so many times you can crack a code before you memorize it and then translating it on paper just seems redundant.

She robotically went through the motions and thought about the best way to request a more difficult code. She had already memorized the three basic codes they had been given to work at. She didn't even need the key anymore!

She knew Shikamaru was in Strategies right now, where they were given various scenarios and were tasked with thinking a way to get everyone back home safely from whatever cluster fuck they had stumbled on to. That sounded way better than what she was doing.

"Naome, since you feel so confident in your translations, please tell us what coded message number 36 is." Her sense said suddenly. This, or some variation of it, happened everyday. This stupid chunin lady seemed unable to grasp the concept that a child could memorize the three basic codes to such a degree without using the key more than three times each.

"The Rain in Ame is like the Grass in Kusa." She dictated perfectly. Having again failed to catch Naome making a mistake, the nameless chunin moved to another girl who had the opposite problem. Apparently Ami couldn't memorize _anything._

Naome looked down at her scroll and saw the different parts of each silly coded message. Her hand writing had been the worst in the class but now it was passable. Not the best, like Hinata's, not the worst, like Sakura's. Sakura apparently found this as tedious and boring as she did.

Naome wished she could just bail out of class like she used to do whenever she grew bored. It got to the point though that she was hardly in class. She did her best to be polite and moderately respectful, but being bored was something she simply could not tolerate for long periods of time.

Of course, then she got pregnant and her morning sickness would end up making her stay in bed for long periods of time when she wasn't training or working. She learned ways to distract herself from boredom.

Naome glanced around the room, seeing most of the girls with their heads bent low and obediantly jotting down things onto their papers. While her handwriting wasn't the best, her paper was neatest, since she didn't make as many mistakes. Hardly any actually.

When she was satisfied that no one was looking her way, she slowly stood up. Quietly, non-chalantly, she walked past other girls' desks and all the way to the door. She didn't pause to look over her shoulder, simply quietly slid the door open and walked out.

Once in the hall, she just as quietly walked over to room 324, where Strategies were being held. She opened the door, ignored the few questioning looks and silent question from the sensei, and silently walked over to Shikamaru's desk.

She made him budge over and then sat down. Afterwards, she looked up at everyone else expectantly.

"Naome Uzumaki, what are you doing here?" The sensei finally asked, realizing she wasn't answering any of his silent questions.

"Iruka-sensei said we could sit in on other classes so long as we didn't disrupt them and our grades didn't fall." Of course, it was implied that she should go to a different kunoichi course, not a shinobi one. It wasn't against the rules though, so she figured she was golden.

"Alright, I guess." Shikamaru gave a side long glance at Naome after everyone had settled back down and they were doing their work sheets again. The sensei had grudgingly given another paper to Naome to do and she was smiling to herself while filling in answers.

He should've known this would happen. He knew that she had calligraphy now and he knew she had already memorized the codes, so she was probably bored. He just never thought she'd come to Strategy class of all things. He purposely chose it because it required minimal effort to pass!

Ran walked into the Day Care to pick up Hikaru-chan accompanied by Shikamaru and Chouji. She said hello to Tenten, who was on duty at the front desk, before signing her name and going to the backroom for Hikaru-chan.

"Ah, Uzumaki-san, it is a pleasure to meet the youthful Hikaru-kun's youthful mother!" Ran knew that by now she should be used to Lee-san. She knew that. She just found it a little unnerving whenever she dropped Hikaru-chan off wearing a red onesie and she took him home in a green one. Luckily today Hikaru-chan was wearing the same thing she dropped him off in.

"Actually Lee-san, my last name is Yurichi. Hikaru-chan has his father's last name." She corrected the spandex wearing boy.

"My apologies Yurichi-san! I made a most Unyouthful error!" The boy cried in despair. Ran blinked, trying to figure out why he was carrying on and crying.

"Lee, be quiet! You're going to wake up the toddlers!" Ran turned around suddenly to see a Hyuga boy frowning at his teammate. She wondered if he was a cousin or something to Hinata.

"My apologies my Eternal Rival!" The boy half shouted, half whispered.

"It's good to see both of you again. Maito-san seems fond of giving you this mission." She commented politely. She had grown to somewhat like them and had even invited them over for dinner once or twice. She thought having the entire team nine sitting at her table was rather amusing to say the least.

"Hai, he is helping us to pass on the Flames of Youth to the next generation!" Ran chuckled again before accepting her bundled up baby boy.

"Lee-san, Neji-san, this is Shikamaru Nara and Chouji Akimichi, children of some friends of mine. I think they are in the year below your's at the academy?" She recieved a nod in answer to her question from Neji.

"A pleasure to meet you!" Lee immediately greeted them. Both Shikamaru and Chouji nodded back. Neji's greeting was more laid back, he merely nodded in acknowledgement of their existence.

Neji knew Ran Yurichi was Tenten's landlady and that she was a pseudo-baachan to her. She cooked and did Tenten's laundry fairly often. He and Lee had been invited to Yurichi-san's home numerous times already. She was fairly polite and despite not being married and having a son, he thought she was rather honorable.

She also didn't treat him differently because he was a Hyuga. His clan was rather famous after all, and he knew that she knew his status. She just treated him like a normal kid. Or as normal as a kid could be with a liscense to kill.

Ran left with her friends and Hikaru-chan shortly after. She thought briefly about inviting team nine to dinner again, but then remembered that she hadn't gone grocery shopping. Gai and Lee could really put it down.

The next day at school, she went to Geisha classes. They mostly taught a maiko curriculum. Naome had watched some geisha entertaining at a party and she knew that this was a lot less elaborate than real geisha. Technically, if the geisha at the Red Light district were to see them, they would say they were training as Maiko, a sort of apprentice geisha.

Naome had seriously underestimated how boring and mind numbing this class was. They had to memorize how to talk. HOW TO TALK! Several times she had been wacked by the sensei's ruler for accidently cursing or showing an 'unpleasant expression'. She was beginning to hate her sensei.

Then was the singing part of the class, where Naome learned that simply mouthing the words got her wacked again. She didn't like singing and she didn't have a good voice, so what was the point? Then came dancing, where she had two left feet. Then came the tea ceremony, which almost put her to sleep every damn time.

Shikamaru was in Advanced Shinobi Tools class, the lucky bastard. She could do a lot with a little stealth. Naome got so bored half-way through class, she decided to use her patented non-chalant walk technique.

You know, where she innocently gets up and goes to a different class as though she was supposed to and it was completely normal? Yeah, that.

So once again, in the middle of class Naome got up, walked out, and went to wherever Shikamaru was. They were outside at one of the range training fields, being shown ways to increase their dexterity. So they could twirl kunai and shuriken around their fingers without losing them.

Around lunchtime, Naome was forced to flee to the rooftop after accidentally stepping on the shadow of Sasuke Uchiha. After reaching the roof, she hesitantly looked over the side to see the fangirls below, just waiting for her to come back down. Luckily she locked the door and they didn't know how to walk up walls yet, unlike her.

"Uzumaki-san, may I have a moment of your time?" Naome eeped and whirled around to see Shino Aburame looking at her stoicly.

"You want something?" She didn't really talk much to Shino. Nobody did. He was polite, just quiet. A lot of girls, mostly fangirls, were scared of him because of his bugs though.

"My father informed me that you returned an important scroll to our grounds when it was lost." That didn't tell her what he wanted. Was he trying to thank her or something?

"My father decided the best way to thank you would be to give you this. He knows through me that you have much trouble with the Bunshin jutsu." Shino pulled a scroll from his jacket pocket. Naome hesitantly accepted it and read the label.

"Kage bunshin?" She read.

"He believes that this should work better for you than the standard bunshin, if used discreetly." She asked him to thank his father for her and he left soon after. Apparently he came through a window where you could reach up and touch the ledge of the roof. From there it was ninja play to pull yourself up.

The bad part about Shino leaving like that, the fangirls realized there was another way to the roof than the door. Naome ended up unlocking the roof door as soon as the fangirls got inside and sneaking down to the classroom again. That had been way too close.

Well, after the day was finished and she had picked up Hikaru-chan with Shikamaru, they went to a clearing so she could practice her new jutsu.

"I hope this one works better than bunshin." She muttered hopefully. Being given a useless jutsu would just be the epitome of suck.

Shikamaru had laid down on the grass with Hikaru-chan on his chest. He watched Naome expend chakra for the kage bunshin jutsu. _Something_ appeared but it didn't look much like her, it was too transparent. It was still a hundred times better than any of her bunshins before.

He saw the discarded and lonely scroll laying within arm's reach and decided that as the brain of the operation, he ought to read it for warning labels. He rolled it open and read the description.

Kage bunshins were solid, corpeal beings made of chakra. They evenly divided the chakra in the user's body in half with each making, something that put up a few red flags. Kage Bunshins could to some extent think and react like the original caster. They were commonly used for spying purposes because when they dispel the caster gains all the knowledge the clone gained.

Shikamaru's brows furrowed as he read that. So Naome would learn whatever the clone learned? That could potentially speed up her training immensely. She could use it for just about anything, it would also provide a great way to get Ran and Naome in the same spot, in case anyone ever got suspicious of them.

A thousand uses for the jutsu filtered into his mind before he came across one that could be catastrophic. Naome now had an instant aliby. Which meant pranks. Which were troublesome.

"Troublesome, your kaa-chan's so troublesome Hikaru-kun." He said softly to the babbling baby.

They ended up staying pretty late; Naome didn't want to leave until she had mastered the jutsu. He figured she had made some pretty good progress, being able to make a fully corpeal clone, even if it didn't last long.

"What about Hikaru?" He asked her, motioning to the now sleeping infant. It wasn't good for babies to be outside this late.

Just like any other time he was brought up, Naome let down the argument and instantly announced that they were leaving. He muttered about how troublesome she was for saying it like it was her idea all the way back to the village proper.

_One Day Later!_

Naome thought it was pretty awesome. Having mastered the kage bunshin jutsu after putting Hikaru-chan to bed, she had decided the village needed a make over. So it was finally time for the return of the mysterious artist!

Of course, this time the paintings were significantly less artistic and more amusing. She didn't want it to look too much like Ran's style. She also decided that the Hokage monuments were too old fashioned.

She _was_ going to do them again, but the patrols in that area had really picked up since her last prank. This sort of justified her new pranks in her mind. In her mind's eye she was helping the village cover holes in security by pulling these pranks in common areas of attack!

Which explained why the Hokage Tower was now painted a deep shade of magenta from head to toe with lovely blue curlique. She found a use for all those calligraphy classes! The swirling designs certainly looked pleasing to the eye.

With her job done and pictures already taken back to the apartment, this kage bunshin dispelled.

_Academy!_

Naome nearly jumped out of her seat when she got the information from the bunshin. Sure, she knew and was expecting it to happen, but it still surprised her. She recovered her composure and went back to trying to figure out why her geisha instructor was so insistent on her learning to play the shamisen.

_Library!_

Zoro gulped when he heard the loud clatter of his scrolls hitting the ground. He thought the info only went to the original, not the other bunshins! He waited uncertainly until he decided the librarian wasn't going to come and murder him before picking up the scrolls and heading back to his table.

He was just settling in to read about the histories of all the Hidden Villages when he felt someone staring at him. He put down the scroll and turned around to see a girl about the age he appeared to be duck behind a shelf.

He thought about calling her out but decided against it. If she wanted something, she'd say it. If she suspected something, he'd know soon enough. Besides, he couldn't be traced back to the boss since he was only a kage bunshin.

"Excuse me, but don't you have training you could be doing?" Zoro looked up to see the girl from before. She had blonde hair in a pony tail but tufts were sticking out, she also wore glasses with strange spiral tints on them. She wore a red dress, and over that, a lab coat.

"Yes." He answered simply, going back to his book.

"So why don't you go do it?" She asked, seeming to have waited for him to find his place again to purposely interrupt.

"I'm getting the feeling you don't want me here." He said demurely. Did she want him to leave?

"What gave you that impression?" She asked, again right when he had restarted reading. He sighed and set down the scroll he had been trying to read in order to face his audience.

"I do have training, but I'm taking a break from training my body to improve my mind. Your questions aimed towards why I am here gave me the feeling my presence was unwanted." He informed her.

"Do you want me to leave?" He asked simply, not putting any emphasis on any particular part. He'd probably have to henge into a new mask in order to come back and return to where he left off.

"Not really, it's just odd seeing a shinobi, especially a chunin, spending time in the library for any length of time. You usually just find what you want and check it out." She shrugged.

"I enjoy reading and this is a quiet place to do it in." He explained. He didn't really like reading, but he had to because the boss said he did.

She left him alone after that and he sighed in relief. Maybe now he could find some good information about the smaller villages that the history class at the academy didn't touch on.

He turned back to the list of villages and his eyes was caught by the one on the bottom. Uzushigakure, village hidden in the whirling tides. He read that it had been destroyed by Iwagakure years earlier and that it had been a close ally of Konohagakure. Strangely though, he found no other information.

Zoro inwardly frowned when he saw how arubtly the passage cut off. As though there had been more to it but it had been whited out or something. Yet there was no evidence that was the case.

What made him really curious though was that they had been an allied force but there was so little information about it. The smaller villages tended to be more open with information, merely because they knew that hiding it from the big five was near to impossible. There was more information on all the other villages, but Uzushiogakure, the one they were allied to and thus should've had the most info on, was cut off.

He put down the scroll and found another on allied forces. There was another piece about Uzushio but it cut off as well. Although he did learn that the red spiral on the uniforms of the shinobi was from their village apparently as a sign of friendship.

Now he really was confused. Their villages had been such good friends but so little info was on the destroyed village? He was missing something here, he could feel it.

_After school, Apartment._

Naome sat in front of her canvas, trying to think of something to paint. Ever since her Zoro clone had dispelled and she learned about the lost village, she hadn't been able to concentrate. For some reason, that glitch in the information system unnerved her. There was something there, but she didn't know what it was.

"Hikaru-chan, I'm missing something." She told her little boy. She liked talking to him when he was sitting on her lap or something. It made her feel closer to him and it helped her sort out her thoughts if she thought out loud.

"If I want to find out about Uzushio, then I'll have to look further back." She thought suddenly. The villages were close friends, that meant there had to be remnants of that friendship. Maybe people had come from Uzushio after it was destroyed and settled down here!

_The Next Day, Library._

Zoro found a book on Hashirama Senju and settled down to read. He was the Shodaime, so that meant he might have forged the friendship of the two villages and there might be a tidbit mentioned about it.

He found something even better than he had hoped. The wife of Hashirama Senju was a woman named Mito Uzumaki who had come from their allied village, Uzushiogakure. The last name threw him through a loop and he tried to squish down his excitement before he broke his serious mask.

Naome had a family! He could barely contain himself from dispeling right away in order to tell her. He calmed himself though and continued to read. The only other thing of note he found was that apparently Uzumakis were famous for their seals, and that was why they had been destroyed.

There was nothing else in the entire library, no matter where he looked. Mito Uzumaki appeared to have been the only one to traverse to Konoha to marry her husband.

He left the library feeling both elated and disappointed. He had hoped to answer questions but all he had done was raise more.

"Oi, Zoro!" He froze where he stood before mentally shaking himself and turning to see Asuma-san. He really needed to work on situational awareness.

"You look like someone killed your puppy." The man joked. Zoro guessed his disappointment had shown on his face.

"I guess I've gotten a bit discouraged in my elemental training." He hadn't really been trying all that hard though. Between Hikaru, the academy, and regular training and studying, he didn't have a lot of free time.

"Don't feel too bad, it'll take a while." The older man reassured him.

"Anyway, I want to introduce you to some pals of mine and then we're going drinking!" Zoro, naively, decided it could do no harm and followed the man to where some other shinobi were waiting. One he recognized as Kakashi.

_Next Day, right after class._

She really wondered what her bunshin had been thinking. Sure, she had always been curious as to the alure of sake, but he should've known it was a bad idea! She knew that alcohol loosened the tongue! Why did that stupid Zoro clone go drinking with a bunch of other shinobi?

She was only relieved that nothing had happened to make them suspicious of Zoro. Thankfully, it seemed bunshins didn't experience black outs after drinking alot, so she knew everything that he had done. Unfortunately, that meant she knew _everything_ he did.

Having a memory of being kissed and fondled by a bar girl was something she could really do without. She still felt dirty about that. She was just glad that nothing had come of it, and that she had such a wonderfully advanced henge. Because she would've been busted in a second by the henge dropping otherwise.

It also seemed that bunshins didn't translate hang overs, which relieved her. She'd hate to have to go to class with a headache.

She passed by the T&I HQ being repainted by a bunch of genin and briefly stopped to laugh. That had been last night's caper and she was rather proud of it. She had painted it with pictures of foreign shinobi with pasty white faces being dragged to their doom by konoha shinobi. She thought it was rather poetic, everyone else thought it was disturbing.

"Ran-san, this painting of Kunoichi and Child is simply beautiful!" Akane crooned. The red head merely sighed while Akane went over the many aspects of the picture.

"This will fetch top dollar on the market, I'm sure of it!"

After Akane left Ran vanished to be replaced by Naome again. She bundled up Hikaru and henged again shortly after. She needed to do some training and get a little information. The only way she'd do that though, is if she could get past the restrictions in place.

Naome summoned twenty clones when she got to her training ground. One clone was tasked with watching Hikaru, one henged as Zoro, another as Ran, two she sent out to do pranks, and the rest she got started on the leaf cutting excercise. With this, her training was bound to take a leap forward!

Zoro went to the library. Today he'd ask Shiho if she knew anything about the Uzumaki clan. Shiho worked at the library so it was possible she'd be able to point him at a useful scroll or something, maybe even a clan codex.

"Well, I don't see why you would want information on them, but we don't have anything." Shiho sighed. She thought it was strange as well but she came across lots of censured things in her career. It was probably just in a higher level of the library or something.

"Can you find _anything_ about them?" He asked insistently. Already he had hit a dead end! It felt like the closer to an answer he got the harder he hit the walls.

"Oh, here's something." She said suddenly. He looked at the file she had pulled out. Academy records for one Kushina Uzumaki.

"Mito Uzumaki had a grandaughter who moved from Uzushio to here shortly before her death." Shiho read. Kushina had been very talented. Her grades were only just below Minato Namikaze's, the future yondaime.

Zoro looked through the file and found a single picture. A little red haired girl who resembled a tomato. This must've been taken when she got assigned into her class. In a few short years though, Zoro could see her looking like Ran. Or Ran looking like Kushina as the case was.

There wasn't anything else in the file of importance. Everything else was ripped out and censured. He had hit another wall. He'd gotten answers but they raised so many more questions than they had a right to.

"Thanks for this Shiho but I guess this is all we're going to find." He sighed. At least for now. He wasn't giving up just yet. Now he had an idea what to do.

"No problem, at least it kept the boredom at bay." Shiho huffed. She'd actually enjoyed spending time with the serious chunin. Hopefully he'd keep coming to the library.

Zoro went into the general area of the library, the part most civilians went to. He found a codex containing information on the clans of the village and settled into a comfortable chair. He had a long day ahead of him.

_With the Pranking Clones!_

The pranksters crept through the village, looking for a target. They had henged playful masks and uniforms like ANBU and were darting over rooftops. Normally, a prank only needed a single clone. Today though, they had a special target in mind.

They were going after the ANBU HQ today. Bunshin 1 would pull the prank and then dart off, leading the ANBU on a merry chase. Bunshin 2 would sneak inside to find some all important files. After all, the HQ had all the important information for the entire village. There might be something about Uzushio or the Uzumaki.

So as soon as she heard the dull blast of smoke bombs going off, Bunshin 2 was entering the building. She army crawled on the ceiling to avoid the seals engraved on the floor until she came to a seemingly innocent door amongst many others.

Now she was in place she made the rat sign, used for the Catfoot jutsu, making every movement utterly silent. The doors opened and ANBU started streaming out. They ran by without seeing her and she swung herself into one of the rooms. She had to look carefully when they were leaving so she would know which was the filing room.

Although, she did make a mental note as to where the locker rooms were. She might need to cover her tracks in case she couldn't hide all her tracks. A prank that turned all the ANBU cloaks pink would do very well to disguise her intentions.

Once inside the file room, she went to the U section. When she found what she was looking for, she took it out.

Uzushiogakure: _Wiped out in the Early Days of Third Shinobi War. Motive for attack was fear for Fuinjutsu abilities. One survivor, Kushina Uzumaki, aged seven. Brought to Konohagakure prior to attack for replacement of Mito Uzumaki: Jinchuriki._

_**Note of Importance:**__ One child, Naome Uzumaki: Current Jinchuriki._

_**Note of Importance:**__ Death due to complications in child birth and poison from Kyuubi chakra._

_Appearance: Red hair, blue eyes, 5'3. No visible birthmarks._

_Relations: Daughter Naome Uzumaki: Age 11. _

_Appearance; Blonde hair, blue eyes, 145.3 cm. Three whisker like marks on both cheeks._

The bunshin's mouth opened and closed while she read and reread the file. It was only when she recalled where she was, and that she shouldn't be seeing this file at all, that she put it away. Before she could leave though, she found her personal file. She had to know once and for all.

Naome Uzumaki: _Current Jinchuriki to the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Shows talent in shinobi arts. Little to no influence from demon. Rank student._

**Family:**_ Kushina Uzumaki: Deceased. Father unknown._

**Note of Importance:**_ After tenth birthday she is seen rarely in the village. Only found reliably around Academy right before and right after classes. ANBU unable to locate her at other times. Possibly leaving the village? Unlikely. Notable jump in ability during this time._

She shakily put this one away as well. As though mechanically, she went to the locker room and died the cloaks pink with orange spirals dotting them. After her work was done, she vanished in a puff of smoke.

_Original Naome._

Tears sprang to her eyes when the memories of the bunshin 2 settled in her mind. She dropped the leaf she'd been trying to cut and walked to where her son was being held. The other clones had all frozen from the memory download, but when they saw her move to take her son, they went back to what they'd been doing. She had a lot to think about.

Hikaru cooed to his kaachan and she felt her heart crack a little. She didn't even know what a jinchuriki was, but it had something to do with the Kyuubi. That horrible demon that attacked their village the day she was born. The demon that contributed to her mother's death.

"Kaa-san." Dear Kami, she really did have a kaa-san! It was only for a few minutes at most, but for a few precious minutes she must've been loved. Being a mother herself, she couldn't think of why someone couldn't love their child! And she was Kushina Uzumaki's child! Her daughter!

But she was dead, and nobody knew who her father was. If the ANBU didn't know, no one knew. The ANBU knew almost everything. Almost.

They didn't know about Hikaru. They didn't know her disappearances were when she had henged into Ran to go to work. They didn't know why she had taken a jump forward in skill. They didn't know alot.

Hikaru seemed to sense she was upset; He was being pretty quiet about it. She just hugged him close to her chest and tried not to think about anything at all. She didn't want to think about becoming a shinobi. She wanted to curl up with her son and pretend she was a nameless orphan found the night of the attack.

She wanted to pretend her parents were still out there somewhere and would come and take her away from the village one day and they would be a happy family. She wanted to pretend she was loved by someone like a parent, who would notice if she was gone and worry. She wanted a parent who she could ask about jinchuriki to. Ask what she was, and if it was why she was hated.

She wanted to ask about her clan. How good had they been at fuinjutsu that they'd been wiped out for fear of it? Could she learn? She wanted to ask why being a jinchuriki had been passed from generation to generation. From Mito to Kushina and then to Naome. Why had the status of jinchuriki been transferred at all? Would a day come she'd have to give up the title to her son? What was it?

So many more questions, and kami she wanted to answer them. She wanted her kaa-san to appear and answer all her questions. Tell her who her father was. To tell her what a jinchuriki was and if everyone hated her because of it.

She wanted to ask why she'd never been told. Why did she have to find out like this? Why was it hidden? Why had the old man hokage lied to her when she asked if he knew who her parents were. He could've at least told her about her mother, her clan, her family!

"Hikaru-chan, I don't ever want you to wonder if you had been loved. I want you to never doubt how much I love you." She said quietly, cautious to speak in case she started to cry again.

He looked up at her with such big blue eyes, so serious, she wondered if maybe he understood. She hugged him a little tighter. She loved her son. She loved Hikaru-chan no matter how hard or long he cried at night. No matter that he had complicated her life so much. She loved him, every tiny bit of him.

"I love you so much it hurts sometimes, to know that I'd do anything for you. I want you to know that. I love you." She whispered to him. She hoped by repeating it often enough he'd always remember, even if she died tomorrow he'd remember these words for the rest of his life.

_May tenth, Day of Genin Test._

Naome sighed in relief when the physical exam was over. She had been half terrified that they would find something that pointed to a previous pregnancy but there was nothing out of the ordinary other than she was short for her age. Many months had passed by now and it was finally the day of the exam, today she would be a genin.

She had already done the trajectory and taijutsu exam. The written wasn't worth mentioning as she was able to answer most of them within the first thirty minutes. Now all she had was gen and ninjutsu and she'd do fine.

Genjutsu was iffy at best, since she didn't have the best chakra control it was harder for her to detect genjutsu. Luckily, she got a D. Not great, but still a passing grade.

With Shikamaru's calculations, she was practically garunteed the hitai-ate no matter how she did on the nin portion of the test. She was already planning the best way to celebrate being a 'legal' adult. She'd finally be able to come out and show everyone who Hikaru-chan's kaachan was!

"Alright Naome, just make three bunshins and you pass." Naome grinned and cracked her knuckles. As far as everyone knew, she still couldn't do the bunshin, but she had an ace up her sleave.

When she cracked her knuckles, she put her hands in the cross seal for kage bunshin without anyone noticing. Having her chakra molded and ready to come out, she made the now unneccesary seal for a regular bunshin. Out popped three kage bunshin.

Naome had made sure that she only put in a tiny bit of chakra for each clone. Bunshins weren't solid, so they didn't cast shadows, something kage bunshins did. That is, unless one only added a miniscule amount of chakra.

She could see through them if she looked hard, but she wasn't trying to be perfect. Besides, so long as they didn't pop too soon or cast shadows, no one would think they were anything but ordinary bunshins.

"Congratulations Naome, you pass!" Iruka congratulated her. Her clones vanished and she whooped for joy before snatching a hitai-ate from the table.

She tied it around her forehead and burst through the door, guitar sliding her way back into the main classroom.

"Konohagakure eat your heart out!" She screamed at the top of her lungs in jubilee. She caught sight of Ino and Sakura rolling their eyes but with little smiles, Chouji was chuckling at her entrance, Shikamaru just smiled and nodded, Kiba just crossed his arms and smirked, and Shino may have looked at her. She could never be sure about Shino though.

Ran, Shikamaru, and Chouji walked into the Day Care to sign out Hikaru at three. They were about to go celebrate graduating and Ran was buying!

Hikaru had grown a bit. His hair had at first fallen out then regrown, but it was still an odd mix of red and blonde. His four whisker marks still stood out against his face and his big blue eyes flashed with an intelligence Naome didn't see in normal babies. Nope, her son was far from normal.

At almost a year old he was already far more advanced than his age mates. He was babbling away now and by Ran's count, knew almost seventy words. He had started walking before anyone, and was talking a lot faster too. He simply learned faster than the other babies.

Ran smiled as they walked home. Her son was a little genius!

"Kaachan, wanna 'alk!" Hikaru always called her kaachan, no matter what she looked like. She could be Naome, Ran, or even Zoro but he would recognize her. It confused the heck out of him whenever she summoned kage bunshins. He could never tell the difference and it was so cute how his face would scrunch up whenever he picked a clone rather than kaachan.

She set him down and took his hand into her's. Now he was a year old she often let him walk beside her on the way to or from Day Care.

When they were in her apartment, she checked first to see if Kakashi was there before dropping the henge. Ever since Anko had started bringing him over he had alternated between the apartments. She had a few close calls when he would drop by unexpectedly but so far her secret was safe.

"Hikaru-chan, you can get out your blocks and play for a bit okay?" She said, letting go of his hand and watching him make a beeline for his bedroom. Shikamaru and Chouji were already getting the food that a bunshin had dropped off earlier for their celebration.

Some cake, many bags of chips, cookies, dango, ramen, and barbeque. All of Kami's gifts to man in food form were present for their private party.

"How do you plan on announcing Hikaru's parentage?" Shikamaru had asked that question alot but Naome would always tell him to wait and see. Of course, she didn't have much of a plan either. She just knew that since she was a legal adult now that they couldn't take him away legally!

"I'll start slow. Add my name to Hikaru's check out list, take him to the park as myself, maybe take him to Ichiraku's." That her son had yet to taste ramen was simply a necessary evil at the time. She'd make up for it. He had inherited her taste for dango, she was sure he'd take to ramen like a fish to water as well!

"What will you do for a mission? Kage bunshins don't last for longer than two weeks." They had tested this out extensively. No matter the amount of chakra put in, a bunshin didn't stick around longer than two weeks. After that they just faded into smoke again.

"I'll put in for a long-term D-rank. I can afford it so long as my team doesn't take a lot of longer missions." She was fairly rich now actually. Lee had to move into the apartment next to Tenten's for some odd reason that Ran wasn't sure about, and she had two other civilian clients who lived on the third floor.

After Shika and Chouji left to go and see their families for a clan celebration, Naome decided to play with Hikaru-chan and finish off the dango with him. Hikaru was building a mini-village from his blocks and shooed away any attempt she made at helping. It was a game they played. He wanted to do it himself and she would interject somehow. Sometimes by stealing a couple blocks and others by knocking down a tower or too.

"No Kaachan, do't touch!" He finally whined, pushing her wandering hand away from his blocks. Naome chuckled before moving to sit on the love seat.

"Naome-chan!" The called for blonde sighed and stood to open the door. She let Anko inside and then returned to her seat. Anko had just gotten back from another A-ranked mission by the blood stains on her uniform.

"Looks like you made the cut Na-chan!" Na-chan, Naome's nickname from Anko.

"I'm finally a kunoichi!" Naome laughed happily, fiddling with the hitai-ate on her forehead. They talked and chomped on dango some more. Anko told about her mission and having to kill an enemy nin after luring him to her bed. Naome talked about letting the world know Hikaru was her son to distract her.

"Kashi been by?" Anko asked through a mouth of sweet dumplings.

"Not yet but when he hears your back he'll probably come through the door." Naome answered. Kakashi and Anko had started dating a couple months ago and it was looking good. Naome still blushed like a neon red beacon whenever Anko described the night life though.

"Your a little miracle worker though. First Asuma and Kurenai, now me and Kashi!" Anko never got tired of that. Ran and Zoro had 'innocently' pushed both couples into the right directions until the efforts bore fruit.

Anko chuckled when Naome got up to check on Hikaru, who had wandered to his room to get another toy and hadn't come back yet. Naome was a good mother, and she wondered what she'd have to say when she finally got around to telling the gaki the big news.

Kakashi and Anko had been in a sexual relationship for little over a month before Anko started getting sick. At first she went to the doctor because she thought it was the flu, only to discover she was pregnant. She'd be going on maternity leave within the week. This had been her last mission for a while.

Anko looked around the brightly colored apartment. There were new paintings of Hikaru's first steps, one of Shikamaru looking a little bewildered and holding Hikaru supposedly after Hikaru had called him tousan, and there was one from the inside of the Day Care where Hikaru was trying to pull another age mate up to a standing position.

She self conciously put a hand to her stomach and wondered if she'd be half the mother Naome was. Would she be able to take care of the baby? What if it didn't love her like Hikaru loved Naome?

She had another fear. She hadn't told Kakashi yet that she was pregnant with his child. She was worried he might leave her. She wasn't sure what he would do. He might even make her get rid of it.

Anko wasn't someone for self doubt. So no sooner had she thought that last one then she was following Naome off to the gaki's room. She was getting this off her chest and telling it to the wisest shinobi she knew.

"Naome, I need to talk to you about something."

_Later, Anko's POV_

"Oi, Kashi-kun have I got news for you!" Kakashi looked up from his barbeque. He was eating out with Asuma, Kurenai, Genma and Hayate.

"Anko, what are you doing here?" He asked in response, pretending not to have heard her greeting. Anko mentally growled about that but put it in the back of her mind for now. She had something important to say.

"Congratulations Kakashi, you're going to be a father!" Anko moved back to avoid the spraying drink from Asuma and Hayate, who had the misfortune of trying to take a drink when she started to speak. Kurenai was giggling, Genma looked like he was going to have a heart attack, and Kakashi was staring blankly.

After two minutes Anko began to worry about him and tried poking him. Then she sat in his lap. Then she played with his hair. When none of this shocked him out of it, she reached for the mask.

His hand caught her's and she smiled at finally knocking him out of his stupor.

"I'm going on maternity leave at the end of the week." She informed him.

_The Next Day, Academy!_

Naome took her time looking around. This would be the last time she stepped foot inside this building for a while. Today she'd be assigned to her team! She wondered who her sensei would be. What about her teammates?

She sat down next to Shikamaru, who was predictably asleep, and waited impatiently for Iruka to call for silence. She smiled back at the chunin instructor when he nodded at her. Now all that was left was to get aquainted with her team. She hoped Shika was on it.

"Alright class, settle down. Today you are shinobi of Konoha, it's time to act like it." Mizuki ordered them harshly. Someone didn't look to be in a good mood. Naome briefly ran through a list of possible wrong doings she had comitted when his glare lasted on her longer than anyone else. Of course, he probably knew about her file.

Yeah, she'd more or less gotten over finding out she was a jinchuriki and apparently came from a line of them. She never let on that she knew, and as far as she knew, nobody knew she had broken into the records.

"Well said Mizuki-sensei." Iruka sighed. For some reason Mizuki had been looking particularly stressed this past week.

"Let's get straight to the teams. Team one will be..." Naome left half an ear open for her name but outwardly she put her head on the desk.

"Naome Uzumaki." Naome opened her eyes but Iruka only moved on to team eight. Kiba, Hinata, and Shino apparently. Her name had been last, so she didn't know who her teammates were. Judging from team eight though, she guessed she was on team seven.

"Team nine is still in rotation from last year, so team ten will be Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, and Chouji Akimichi." That sucked, that meant she wasn't on a team with either Shika or Cho-kun!

"Wait here to meet with your sensei, they should be here momentarily." Mizuki instructed them before leaving.

"This is so troublesome." Shikamaru had expected it of course, but as per usual, he hated it when he was right. He still hadn't found time to tell her how he felt. He really needed to stop putting it off.

"On the bright side, D-ranks pay money. Money that can be used to buy paint supplies. And clothes. And plant stuff." Naome listed the good things about having extra spending money.

"D-ranks are chores though, if I wanted to do chores I'd do the ones my mom nags to me about everyday." Shikamaru sighed. She was way too cheerful about graduating.

"Such a lazy boy." She snickered. Some jounin walked into the room and they called for their teams. Shikamaru left with Asuma, surprisingly enough. She hadn't known he was going to be a jounin sensei. Kurenai wasn't a surprise though, Naome had known that the new jounin would be taking a team this rotation. She took team eight.

Eventually, she figured out she was on a team with Sakura and Sasuke-teme. It was odd that two girls would be on a single team, but Naome guessed it had to do with status. They were probably getting an elite jounin who'd be able to handle the last Uchiha and a potential ticking time bomb of a jinchuriki.

Naome sighed when she saw that Sasuke was merely silently brooding with Sakura staring at him with a glint in her eye. She leaned back into her chair and put her feet on the desk. She had the strangest feeling they were going to be there a while, so she may as well get comfortable and try to balance her check book since she had some free time.

Tax season was a pain, but she had to file a check each year if she wanted to get a refund on all those taxes she paid as Ran. Naome didn't have to pay taxes, but Ran did, even though she technically didn't exist!

"What are you doing dobe?" Dobe, she hadn't been a dobe in a whole year!

"Balancing my check book." She answered, trying to ignore him. He was probably just as bored as she was but didn't have the advantage of always having something to do during a boring day.

"Doesn't your sponsor do that?" Sasuke asked. His curiosity had yet to be sated when it came to Naome Uzumaki. She had switched again from those hoodies to bright colors. Apparently she had been doing stealth training and now felt she was good enough to walk around in bright orange without being caught.

"Sponsor?" Did she have a sponsor? Wait, the old man Hokage was the one who signed her up for the academy. Did that mean he was her sponsor?

"I guess he doesn't if I'm doing them." She shrugged. Not like it particularly mattered.

She finished that soon enough though; she had found it was easier than triangulating a kunai's path. So with that out of the way, she took out her latest project. Ever since finding out she was a jinchuriki, she'd been looking deeper into seals. Fuinjutsu was pretty awesome, especially since she seemed genetically predisposed to it! Her family's reputation spoke of fear of their abilities, she wanted to bring that back! She wanted to keep the Uzumaki style alive!

Silence reigned for a few minutes before Sakura finally decided to goad the Uchiha into conversation. Naome smirked at the Uchiha's delema before turning back to her seals.

There were thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of symbols in Fuinjutsu. They could be put together in different forms and shapes to create the intricate seals used for anything. The twelve basic ones were styled after the hand signs and were used for the basic stuff like sealing scrolls and exploding tags.

She was way past the basics of the basic stuff though. She knew around a hundred symbols which she thought was pretty good for someone who couldn't study it seriously because of her schedule. Hopefully not having to attend the academy anymore will give her more free time.

Right now she was working on a long term seal that could store a kage bunshin. Normally, when one tried to seal a bunshin into a regular scroll it was translated into chakra and wasted. It couldn't come back out as a bunshin, just raw chakra. Of course, Naome knew there was a method, she just hadn't found it yet.

"Now what are you doing Naome?" She looked up to see Sakura looking down at what must've resembled random squiggles to the untrained eye. Those calligraphy lessons had come in handy!

"Just a hobby of mine. Fuinjutsu." Naome motioned to the blank scroll she was experimenting on. She was so close, she could_ feel _it!

"I tried looking into that but it's way too complicated." Funnily enough, ever since those rumors went around that she and Shika were dating all the girls in the class had been treating her like a close friend! Seemed she wasn't possible competition so instead she was the go to girl for boy advice, since she had apparently landed a boyfriend already.

It did mean that she had to go on more 'dates' in order to avoid shopping sprees though. Not that she was complaining about the dates, Shika always treated her awesomely and he wouldn't be a bad boyfriend if she worked up the guts to ask him. He was pretty cute too, she liked his hair especially.

"It isn't really. All the symbols mean something different and you only have to arrange them into the right pattern. Kind of like the hand signs in jutsu." She tried to explain. She wasn't sure why everyone else thought it was complicated, it seemed pretty straight forward to her. Maybe that was just her Uzumaki awesome genes at work though.

"What are you doing?" She asked, pointing to the drying ink. This would be her latest attempt at the seal to seal away her bunshins.

"Special storage scroll. If it works, I can seal away my main jutsu to be used whenever I don't have chakra." She rolled up the scroll, having finished letting the ink dry. She couldn't test it out here if she wanted to keep the kage bunshins as her ace in the sleeve.

Which left her with yet another pursuit. She reached into her kunai pouch and pulled out another scroll. When she unrolled it, she could see dozens of storage seals. Each one had something different in it. This scroll was her Past Time scroll, which she used whenever she needed something to do on a boring day.

One of these things was practicing the leaf splitting excercise. She had more or less completely mastered it, but since Konoha was short on water falls, she couldn't exactly procede to the next level yet. Besides, it was a great chakra control excercise.

Normally she wouldn't consider using this skill around other people who were not Shika or Cho-kun but today was a special day. Besides, she was a shinobi now, so she was allowed to have these skills! Although explaining how she got this chunin level skill might be a little troublesome, to quote her favorite pine apple headed friend.

They apparently decided to leave her to whatever she was doing but cutting leaves with chakra could only keep somebody with her attention span occupied for so long. She got bored and again turned to her scroll for a solution. This time she unsealed a notebook.

It was grey in color and looked kind of grungy, well worn. On the cover was wirtten simply _To Try._ She flipped it open to a dog eared page. On this page was a depiction of the Hyuga Compound from a bird's eye view. She had henged a bunshin into a messenger hawk and made it fly over the compound until the lay out was memorized.

The Hyuga compound was almost impervious to pranks. Nothing short of a miracle could get you in there. But the key word was almost. Every other clan compound had been hit, along with a few apartments with notable shinobi living in them, but the Hyuga compound remained that same shade of egg shell white.

Naome hadn't pulled a prank for almost a week now with all the planning she'd been doing. She figured out by using kage bunshins she could get close to the compound, but getting in was another matter entirely. The Hyuga really didn't like small things like mice or cockroaches.

Oh sure, she could simply have a bunshin henge as a bird and drop little paint pellets, but doing so was too easy. It didn't have the natural flair of the Myserious Pranking Artist. The one who put so many interesting pieces of art on buildings key to the village's security.

After reading her file she had even begun leaving behind a note. On the note was a detailed explanation of how she had gotten past their defences and what they needed to fix. Naome found that security around the village had really stepped up!

The Hyuga compound's security had remained the same though, for the simple reason that she hadn't found a way to infiltrate it. Not yet anyway.

So here she sat, half an hour waiting for her sensei to show up and about a dozen leaves cut in half littering the floor. Guards were always stationed at certain intervals with exactly 180 m between each one.

From what she knew of the Hyuga clan, they all had those freaky byakugan eyes. The eyes let them see through things and see chakra itself inside someone. She wasn't sure what the range was, but it seemed pretty large if the guards were stationed so far apart.

After another thirty minutes of this she shot a long, hard glare at the clock. Where was their sensei? She had to pick up Hikaru in an hour! Sure, she could send a bunshin, but she'd rather leave a bunshin here and go off as herself. Why should she be bored?

"Where is he!" Sakura raged, having realized she just spent an entire hour gazing 'lovingly' at Sasuke-kun. No way someone could be realistically this late unless they had died!

"If he doesn't show up in five minutes I have to leave. I thought I'd be done by now." Naome muttered outloud. She wondered what Hikaru was doing now.

Five minutes passed and Naome stood up, fully intending to follow through on her promise and get the heck out of there.

"Naome! What if our sensei shows up? He'll be pissed if we're not all here!" Sakura tried to dissuade her.

Naome groaned but resisted making a bunshin. She didn't want to blow her secret.

"Fine, but I'm going to the bathroom." She sighed, opening the door and stepping out. Once in the hall, she made the cross sign for a kage bunshin. Hey, she never said she wouldn't make one later!

Leaving the academy, she henged into Ran in an alley and stepped out, heading straight for the Day Care. She wanted to see her baby boy, besides, she could always leave Hikaru with a different bunshin if she was needed.

_An Hour Later, Bunshin's POV_

Well, this is boring. Naome 2 inwardly sighed as she tried to think of something to do. At this point, she already found three potential scenes for a new painting, cut twenty leaves, painstakingly carved her name into a desk with a kunai, and hummed Say Huh under her breath for ten minutes straight.

So yeah, she was getting desperate. So she decided a prank was in order.

Normally her pranks featured a beautiful and often satire painting. However, that was the work of the Mysterious Prankster Artist, an apparently highly skilled and artistic shinobi. Naome Uzumaki's pranks were brightly colored, usually involved sticky glitter, and took a few days to wash away.

Luckily she had everything she needed in another scroll on her person. Sure, this was actually kage supplies, meaning it would vanish if she got too far away, but it would serve her purposes.

With the sealing tags set and ready to go off, she sat back down to wait. She didn't have to wait long this time.

The door slid open and she barely had time to recognize the figure before the tags went off. Inwardly flinching as the brightly colored smoke cleared, she made a mental note to get Ran to make him some pudding or something else sweet. Hopefully that would be enough to sway him from any revenge on Naome Uzumaki.

"My first impression of you is, I hate you." Naome gulped when his eye lingered on her. Yep, singular _eye._ Kakashi Hatake, in all his quarter of face glory, was her new sensei.

"Consider this warning not to be late when meeting me then." She wondered why he was so late. Maybe he and Anko had been talking and lost track of time?

"Well you see I came across an old lady with a bunch of heavy groceries, as a proper shinobi I offered to carry them to her home, but she kept forgetting where she lived!" Naome briefly wished she could bang her head against the table without fear of accidentally dispelling herself.

He led them to the roof and then instructed them to introduce themselves. When pressed, he introduced himself as Kakashi Hatake, his likes and dislikes were none of their business, he had lots of hobbies, and he never thought about his future before! Naome was glad she knew him as well as she did, since it meant she knew his likes, dislikes, his questionable hobbies, and that he lingered more on the past than the future.

"Alright, your turn Pinkie!" Kakashi said in a falsely cheerful voice. Naome wondered if he had been forced to take a team. It hurt a little that he was so dismissive. She had to remind herself that he didn't really know her, only Ran.

"I'm Sakura Haruno, I like shopping and Sasuke-kun! I dislike Ino-pig and bad hair days! My hobby is reading and my dream is to...eh well, that's private!" She said the last part in a rush, her cheeks a bright red. Naome gave you three guesses what Sakura's dream was and the first two didn't count.

"Ooookaaayyy?" Kakashi drawled. Naome noted the faint flicker of fear in his eye but didn't think much on it. From what she knew of Kakashi, he must've had quite the following when he was their age. He probably knew fangirls pretty well.

"Alright, your turn broody." No mistaking who broody was. Naome could almost _feel_ the temperature drop in his immidiate vicinity. Talk about the cold shoulder.

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha. My dislikes aren't important since there's few things I do like. My hobby is training and my ambition is to kill a certain someone and ressurect my clan." That was something that had always confused her. Resurect his clan? Like bring them back to life? Or did he mean simply going into the CRA and having many wives to have many children?

"Alright, and for the granda finale." Kakashi sighed, turning to her with what she could only describe as resolve. He'd given up hope of a normal team it seemed.

"I'm Naome Uzumaki, I like pranks, painting, learning new jutsu, and ramen. I dislike secrets and rumors. My hobby is gardening and training. My dream is to be the best hokage!" She finished with a smile. She thought that one was pretty good.

"Hokage?" Kakashi questioned, tipping his head slightly to the right. He probably thought she was crazy.

"Why hokage?" She didn't even hesitate before answering.

"Because there's someone I need to protect. He's the most important person in the entire world to me." She said with a soft kind of smile. She was of course, thinking of her son Hikaru. Not that they needed to know that. They didn't need to know that at all.

"Well then, meet up at training ground seven for your genin test at seven in the morning." He ordered them, standing up to leave.

"Hold the phone! Test? What do you mean test?" Naome demanded before he could poof away.

"I mean the qualifying genin test. The academy exam was just to weed out the useless trash. The ones with no potential." She felt a little uneasy when she saw that glint in his eye. Kakashi loved horror stories. He just liked freaking people out.

"Well, remember, training ground seven at seven! Oh, and I wouldn't eat breakfast if I were you, you might get sick." With that last bit of oh so helpful advice, he was gone.

"Don't eat breakfast, but then we'll be weak from hunger." Naome muttered hatefully. No way she was going without her breakfast omelets! She needed food to sustain herself or she would die!

Sasuke made an indeschiperable grunt and wandered off, followed by Sakura to ask for another date. Once she was sure she was alone, the Naome bunshin vanished in a puff of smoke. When a gust blew through the area, nobody knew that the real Naome was long gone.

_With Ran and Hikaru-chan!_

Ran blinked as the memories of her bunshin righted themselves in her mind. Training ground seven at seven, ignore the breakfast suggestion, and make Kakashi some brownies. Nothing too complicated and no one even suspected that hadn't been the real her!

She and Hikaru were at the park just then. She was sitting on the bench and reading an adult book while Hikaru-chan played in the sand box. She personally blamed Kakashi for her latest addition on her bookshelf.

"Kaa-chan, kaa-chan!" Ran looked up from her book to show Hikaru was pointing to the swings. She chuckled before putting down her book and following her son to the bucket seats. After ten minutes the novelty of the swings wore off for him and he wanted to play on the slide.

She settled back down to read while he laughed on the slide. Alas, the peace was once again broken soon enough.

When Hikaru began to cry she was up in a flash and running to where he'd been pushed down by a familiar looking puppy.

"Oh geez, don't cry kid!" Kiba begged. Akamaru was trying to get the kid to laugh to no avail. He hadn't meant to knock the kid down, they were just happy to finally be free from his mother's lecture about being a good shinobi and training and everything.

"Hikaru-chan, what's the matter?" He gulped and turned around to see a young, red haired woman. He quickly realized this must be the kid's mother.

"Sorry miss, I accidentally knocked him over." He apologized quickly, hoping to gain a little mercy. The females in his pack were fierce whenever a pup was threatened and he had no wish to gain any new bruises, even from a civilian woman.

"It's fine." She reassured him, letting him breathe a quick sigh of relief while she picked up and soothed her son's tears.

"There now Hikaru-chan, you're not hurt. He didn't mean to knock you down." She cooed to the whimpering eleven month old until he stopped crying.

"I'm really sorry ma'am." Kiba apologized again. He didn't mean to make a little pup like this guy cry. Come to think of it, he looked familiar. That blonde hair and those whisker marks. Could it really be?

Actually, something about this didn't smell right either. Hikaru smelled like Naome! Like ramen, dango, and paint. Only male. He took a deep breath and tried to figure out what the mother's smell was. Paint, dango, and ramen. Almost exactly like Naome.

He left the park with Akamaru and asked his partner's opinion on the matter. Akamaru told him that the woman did smell similar but there was a difference. More likely Naome lived with them and their smells all mingled together until there was little differentiation.

"She doesn't have parents but I guess it's possible that lady's her sister or something." He muttered. He'd find about it later, for now he had some walking to do and the best dog ever to do it with.

Ran meanwhile, decided it was best to go home before she met any other former classmates. She hoped Kiba didn't make any connection between Hikaru and Naome. She wasn't sure she could trust him not to tell anyone until she was an official shinobi. She had to get qualified first!

Anko was waiting inside her apartment and Ran was replaced with Naome and a roll of the eyes. Oh well, maybe she could get a little inside help for this mysterious test tomorrow.

"How'd it go Anko-nee?" She asked about the meeting of Kakashi and Anko. She wished she could have seen Kakashi's face when he heard the news! That must've been painting worthy!

"I think once the shock wore off he was pretty happy. Kissed me full on the lips in front of the entire barbeque place!" Anko chuckled. Naome laughed as well, just imagining the scandal of Kakashi Hatake removing his mask to make out with Anko Mitarashi in public. Now she _really _wished she could've seen that!

"Well, as someone who crossed this all important threshold before you, allow me to give you this advice." Naome said, going to the bathroom to dig through her cabinet. Anko followed behind her, no doubt curious as to her advice.

"Emetrol?" Anko read the label of the bottle Naome had tossed at her. She read the description and found out it was medicine for nausea. She had almost forgotten about morning sickness!

"Thanks, thanks a bunch." She glowered at the little bottle. Something told her that this was going to be a long nine months.

Naome laughed at the face Anko made. She briefly thought about making it into a painting, but decided she would save this look just for herself. Besides, Akane had already taken this month's work to market.

"Kaa-chan, Dere's a funny guy!" She heard from her son's bedroom. Naome frowned before henging into Ran and going inside. She looked out the window and down to the street below.

"Ichigo!" Ran gasped, feeling very grateful that she had thought to henge before coming to the window. He definitely recognized her alright, judging from his sudden scowl.

"Um, Anko-nee. Please come here!" Ran called to the living room. She pushed Hikaru away from the window and hoped that Ichigo hadn't seen him. Ever since that night when he tried to burn down her apartment she had tried to forget about her first resident. She wasn't sure him being back and glaring up at her from the street was a very good thing.

Anko took one look out the window and _growled._ His prison sentence must be up, judging from his lack of shave he'd probably been released earlier that day. Seeing the guy responsible for Naome's early labor really made her angry, especially since he had been going after her originally.

"I'll get rid of him." She said decisively. No way this fucker was going to be anywhere near Naome or her son while she had a say in the matter! She was getting his ass off of her property faster than you could say dango!

"Oi, bastard! Leave!" She shouted at the man from the now open window. She jumped through it, ignoring Ran's startled gasp.

"You're still here?" Ichigo scoffed. He couldn't believe this bitch had brainwashed innocent Ran-san. He could admit, trying to burn down the apartment with Ran inside might have been stupid, but he blamed the alcohol. Besides, this village had to get rid of pests like the Kyuubi Vessal and the snake bitch.

"Ichigo, I am a kunoichi under the service of the Sandaime. If you do not leave I will be forced to take you back in for tresspassing. Leave." Anko tried not to lose her temper. Even if it was justified, it was frowned upon to beat civilians to a bloody pulp.

"Fucking snake bitch, you won't be around forever!" He swore, turning to go. Anko's hand itched for a kunai but she restrained herself. No need to make a scene.

'It's a good thing I'm going on maternal leave, this way I can protect my godson easier.' She thought before going back inside.

"What do you think?" Ran asked Anko as she jumped back through the window. She half wanted to go out there herself and use some of the colorful words she'd learned in Takimaru's bar, but it was better for Anko to do this. After all, he might try to attack her and as far as anyone knew, she was a harmless civilian woman.

"I think he'd better stay the fuck away or I'm going to be disobeying my doctor's orders for maternity leave for a little target practice." Anko growled under her breath. Nobody messed with her precious people! Nobody! She'd cut them open, use their guts for jump rope, and_ then _kill them!

"Let's just calm down and try to forget about him. More importantly, you need to tell me more about Kakashi's reaction." She said, pulling the woman back to the living room for more girl talk.

"What'll you do if he proposes?" Naome herself had never faced that problem, since she highly doubted her rapist would ever want to take responsibility for his offspring. If he ever had the nerve to look her in the eye, she'd probably just kick his ass kage bunshin style. As far as she was concerned he was just the sperm donor.

Judging from Anko's conflicted expression, it was a pretty difficult question to answer. Well, whatever she decided to do in that event, Naome would make sure Kakashi got the message to treat her older sister right.

"If he does propose, you have to give up being Ran around him." Anko pointed out to her. If Kakashi hung out more around here, than he would inevitably come across her secret. He already gave Hikaru weird looks.

"I promise, when and if he grows the balls to pop the question, I'll come clean." Naome swore.

"I've really sullied your poor virgin mind haven't I?" Anko said after a long pause. Naome groaned when she saw the pride in her smile. Of course only Anko Mitarashi could get her to drop her polite demeanor so easily, and around her son!

"Kaa-chan, wat does growin' balls mean?" Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

"Nothing Hikaru-chan, nothing at all." Curse Anko and her laid back ways, making her relax and talk like that in front of her now talking son! Curse her to the nth level of Makai!

_The Next Day, Seven AM!_

Naome sat down on a stump and looked at her new teammated. Well, almost teammates. Whatever. Shaking her head, she tried to think back to the topic she'd had when she first arrived.

'I don't know much about his fighting style so I guess I'll have clones go in first, no need to get killed right away.' She knew that Kakashi Hatake was an elite jounin, on top of being Anko's boyfriend and father of her child. Still, beyond that he liked sweets and porn and was trained by the fucking Yondaime of all people, she didn't know much about him. The Yondaime thing was kind of a surprise for Zoro to find out during one of Asuma's impromptu barbeque invitations.

She hated getting up early, but it had been necessary. She had a bunshin dropping Hikaru off at Day Care right now and she had finished some take out dango on the way there. Her body really rebeled when she tried to wake up an hour early. It seemed her body was afraid she was going back to only five hours of sleep.

Naome looked from the top of the stump down to her new teammates, almost teammates, whatever. Sasuke was, for lack of better term, sulking and Sakura was gazing at him with starry eyes and sighing at regular intervals.

"Okay, once I might forgive, but he's late again?" She whispered angrily. Kakashi was officially ten minutes late and she was pissed. She woke up early for this?

Luckily, this time she brought the trapping gear, rather than the pranking gear. She made sure they wouldn't activate until she purposely set them off, she didn't want to accidentally kill Anko's boyfriend, but other than that she went all out. A few explosive tags there, an oil bomb tag there, a few fireworks, and one or two kunai launchers. Nothing too serious. A jounin should be able to avoid these.

Then she remembered how he hadn't been able to dodge the paint bombs...He'd get whatever was coming to him then. It was his fault for being late.

When she sat back down, she decided to try carving her name into the stump. Her bunshin had carved into a desk, so she figured she'd carve it into the stump. Besides, she was bored!

"How do you do that?" Naome thought up some very colorful curses when the surprising interruption caused her to screw up her U in Uzumaki. Great, now she had a lopsided U!

"It's complicated." She growled, trying to think of a way she could fix it. This U would be there for however long the post was and she didn't want whoever ended up reading this to think she had horrible handwriting!

"Explain." Naome sighed and gave up on fixing the U. She'd only make it worse at this point. So now she carefully went about carving the rest of her name.

"It's just a cute trick I learned." She told him, finishing the final i in Uzumaki.

Sasuke made some kind of Hn grunt thing and turned away, probably losing interest. Not that she blamed him, she purposely made it look a lot less interesting than it really was so that no one would question her on it too much.

Using wind chakra to cut a leaf was one thing, it was another to force the chakra to carve into hard wood to write her name. She read that this level of control was good practice if a waterfall wasn't immediately handy. She hoped she could get a C-rank or something out of the village soon. She really wanted to find a waterfall!

By the end of an hour, she had carved numerous curse words into the wood, along with some random words like ramen and dango. Yeah, she was bored, sue her!

Kakashi showed up after three, very boring hours, at Ten! He said to meet up at seven! He could not possibly have a good excuse to be so late unless he was in the fucking hospital! Anko was no longer a viable excuse, no way he could be irresponsible and get away with it!

"Gomen, I was on my way here but a black cat crossed my path and I had to take the long way to avoid bad luck." He lied expertly. Oh he totally deserved the oil bombs and explosive tags. Her hand was practically twitching with the need to form the activation seal!

He walked to the middle stump and on it, placed an alarm clock. Was he planning on taking a nap!

"Alright then, your genin test will be to retrieve these bells from my person." He started, holding two bells in the palm of his hand. Read them, two! Hello, she knew he wasn't blind so couldn't he see that there was three of them?

Apparently Sakura had some doubt about that since she asked why he didn't have a third bell. The answer, Naome really could have done without.

"This test has a 65 percent fail rate. One of you, or maybe even all of you, will fail this test in getting the bells. So really, there's no mistake." She swallowed her apprehension and tried not to think about what would happen if she failed. Being a shinobi was her only option in this village. Without that, she really couldn't survive.

"You have until noon to get the bells from me, if you fail to get a bell at that time you will be tied to one of these posts. If you don't come at me with the intent to kill, you will not win." He said seriously, already reaching into his shuriken pouch. Naome knew what it was that he was going for and with one of his arms tied up, she striked.

Her hands fell into the ram seal and the explosion rocked the ground. She didn't stick around to find out if she got him, making some bunshins and darting to hide in the forest while her bunshins gained intel. She had to pass, no matter the cost.

Kakashi had to admit, she obviously had no problems coming at him with the intent to kill. That explosion nearly caught him by surprise. If he hadn't seen her make the seal he would no doubt have been caught unawares. As it were, what happened next really blew him away.

"Who taught her a forbidden jutsu?" He asked aloud as he saw corpeal forms of Naome appearing in the cloud of dust the explosion had generated. No doubt they were looking for him.

He had to admit, he was mildly impressed. Not only by the force of the explosion, but by the unexpected bunshin army bearing down on him. Oh sure, they were child's play to avoid, but that wasn't the point of the excercise was it?

He dispelled the bunshins in one hit each and waited for the smoke to clear. He found the clearing they had started in deserted, Sakura and Sasuke had apparently decided hiding to wait was the best option for now.

"Strange, I wonder who taught you how to do that." He spoke aloud, knowing either Naome or another clone was no doubt in hearing distance. He was pleasantly surprised at how skilled his sensei's daughter was. After seeing her academy scores he had wondered how good she was on the field and clearly he was getting his answer. He wondered what else she had up her sleeve.

While he was alone with his book, he took a quick peek at the stump Naome had been sitting on when he had gotten there. His visible eye narrowed and he stepped closer to inspect it.

**Naome **_**U**_**zumaki was Here!**

How had she managed to carve her name, and all the other words, into the stump so easily? It wasn't any flimsy wood, but made from the Hashirama trees that the Shodaime grew himself. They could only be harmed with chakra based attacks. She had used chakra to write this.

"Something tells me this might be interesting after all." He wasn't going to play favorites though. If they wanted to pass, it had to be because they were worthy to be konoha shinobi, not because one was the last Uchiha and the other his sensei's daughter.

"Well, if you're not coming to me, I'll come to you." He'd go take care of Sakura first. A quick genjutsu should show him some of that chakra control she had been famous for in the academy.

He found Sakura roaming the forest, no doubt looking for Sasuke. He wondered if she had discovered the hidden meaning of the test and was going to team up with the last Uchiha. It would be interesting to see, but somehow he doubted it was the case. She was too much of a fangirl.

He made two handsigns and watched as the low level genjutsu took affect. Maybe now he could see if she was all yip and no bark after all.

"EEEEEEEEEIIIIIIII!" Judging from the scream and the now unconcious genin below him, he was going to be in for a very disapointing morning. It had started out so well too!

After dealing with Sakura, he decided to go back to Naome. Hopefully she had a few more tricks up her sleeves than a few kage bunshin. Even if that was a pretty good trick.

Naome swallowed any trepidition she had and forced herself to concentrate. Kakashi had just finished off Sakura in five seconds and no doubt he'd be coming for her next. With any luck, she could lure him in to the oil bombs and fire works. That ought to be interesting and entertaining, at least up until he decided to kill her.

"Well, I hope you're ready." Naome eeped and turned around to see Kakashi standing on the limb of a tree. Ironically, that was exactly where she wanted him.

"Katsu." She smirked, the oil bombs worked perfectly and when they went off, so did the fireworks!

Kakashi's eyes widened as he felt something wet sliding down his back and front. He knew from the smell exactly what it was and he had the feeling he should escape before he became the bacon he had eaten for breakfast.

With a quick kawarmii he was free of any explosions but he didn't take into acount that she might have something else up her sleeves. Fireworks, who thought of fireworks as weapons?

"Wind Style, Great Breakthrough jutsu!" He felt a strong wind but was mildly disappointed that it wasn't stronger. She was able to make kage bunshin, she should've been able to give that more juice.

He soon found that power wasn't really what he had to worry about. It was the direction. Because now the fireworks were once again heading straight for him! Oh yeah, Naome was going to be more trouble than he first thought.

He avoided the firework and this time headed straight back to the elevel year old blonde behind him. He really needed to keep his guard up around her.

As it were though, once he got in closer she was easy enough to knock out of the game. He tied her up, did a little giggling at her misfortune, then went to go after Sasuke.

Naome waited until she was sure he was gone before activating Rope Escape jutsu. The loveliest part about it was that she didn't need handsigns for it, since the whole point of the jutsu was to escape being tied up!

Free once again, she decided to go back to the clearing to think of another plan of action. She also needed to set up more traps. And maybe put out the fire her fireworks had started. Yeah, she'd do that first.

Any further attempts to get the bells failed. Then again, she realized soon enough that she wasn't expecting them to get any better. She wasn't good enough to stand up to him close up, she tried the Kaze no Yaiba but he could avoid them effortlessly and she was only wasting chakra. Her bunshins couldn't last to the damage he gave them either, so she couldn't land a hit no matter what she did!

In the end, Sakura ended up tied to the stake. Naome and Sasuke hadn't gotten a bell though. They had failed, they were going back to the academy.

"Well, you all failed." Kakashi deadpanned. He had hoped for more, but he was honestly surprised with what he got. Naome definitely had more than a few good tricks. He'd really like to know who taught them to her though, since she should've have access to anything that high leveled. Heck Kaze no Yaiba was a B-ranked jutsu for chunin only!

"However, you two did very well for genin." He said praisingly to both Naome and Sasuke. Sasuke had whipped out some impressive maneuvers and a fireball jutsu. But his knowledge was more justified, he had access to an entire clan library.

"So I'm going to throw you a bone. You two can eat those bentos there and we'll all try again after lunch. Just don't give any to Sakura." He finished before vanishing in a swirl of leaves. Now, to sit back and watch the fireworks! No pun intended.

Naome opened up the bento but she had already lost her appetite. How was she going to get a bell now? She had already used up nearly every trick she had! At this rate, becoming a shinobi was looking less and less uncertain.

She looked at the good food their sensei had brought with him but she couldn't bring herself to eat a single bite. She looked up at Sakura's despairing face and felt a twinge of sympathy. She knew how it was to be hungry. Even if the only reason it was so bad for Sakura was because she hadn't eaten breakfast, the baka.

Naome picked up a clump of rice with her chopsticks and pushed it up in front of a confused Sakura.

"Open up. Come on, you need it more than I do. I ate breakfast!" Naome persuaded her.

"But what about Kakashi-sensei?" She questioned. Using her opened mouth as an oppurtunity, Naome shoved in the rice.

"What he don't know, won't hurt me anymore." Naome sighed. She doubted they had much of a chance, any of them. He was a jounin, an experienced and very highly ranked jounin who survived the third shinobi war and was trained by the Yondaime himself. They never stood a chance.

No sooner had Sakura swallowed the first mouthful and Sasuke was just getting ready to give her another than Kakashi appeared again. Accompanied by dark storm clouds and thunder and lightning.

**"YOU!..."** He shouted angrily, a crazed look in his eye. Naome suddenly doubted her previous statement very much.

"Pass." It took three seconds before the shock wore off so they could respond.

"Nani!" Echoed through the entire forest this day, leading many to realize that something was wrong with the natural order. Kakashi Hatake had just passed a team!

_An Hour Later!_

Ran vanished with a puff to be replaced by Naome as soon as the front door closed. She let Hikaru go to his room to play with his toys while she tried to figure out what her next step would be.

Her paint supplies out, she settled down to start work on her newest piece. This one was a little different than what she usually did. Normally she steered further from something that might be linked to her real self, portraits were her main focus as Ran. Today however she felt she needed to do something.

Before being dismissed, Kakashi had introduced them to the Memorial Stone. Naome knew about the stone, from a book's point of view anyway, she knew what it was and why it was there. It was another thing entirely to be told in no uncertain terms that as a shinobi, the day she died her name would be carved into that stone. And that would be all that was left.

So she painted the clearing with the three training stumps. The trees were shadowed, as though it were still very early in the day before the Sun could rise. The Stone was cast partially in shadow, but the side facing the rising sun was shining.

Someday, years and years after she died, some genin might trace her name on that stone. Maybe her own grandchildren would do it. Whoever did it though, they wouldn't gain anything from it. They wouldn't know she couldn't decide between ramen and dango. They'd never know about the poems she wrote to her son. They wouldn't know her favorite color was orange because it reminded her of the sun that always got back up again with the start of the day, no matter how many times it fell before.

They wouldn't know who Naome Uzumaki was, not really. As a shinobi, and as one aiming for Hokage, all personal information will be either hidden or destroyed, so that people can't use it against her remaining friends and family. The only people who would know her would be the people she met in this life time and formed bonds with.

She had some lost time to make up for. As she finished the last stroke of the brush and got up to make dinner for Hikaru, she left the painting standing in a corner of the room. When she returned later to inspect the painting, she would find that she had subconciously painted several faceless shinobi in the background, hidden by the shadowy grove of trees.

One of them had blonde hair.

D-ranks, she had expected and was prepared for. She knew she'd probably be doing grocery shopping for some stranger or catching someone's lost pet. She had clearly underestimated how troublesome that could be when one's teammates seemed to conspire to make each task as difficult as possible.

Sakura practically refused anything that might get her sweaty or dirty, which a lot of these missions did. As such, she tended to sit on the sidelines and their "sensei" never said a word. Sasuke, he was a little easier to deal with, merely scowled a whole lot more. His expression seemed to darken all the more each time Kakashi took them in for another.

Naome was annoyed by them too of course, who wanted to carry heavy supplies all over the village? However, she honestly didn't see the big deal. All genin had to do this, it wasn't like they were trying to punish them. Someone had to do these jobs and at the moment, they were the lowest of the low.

Besides, since Kakashi was apparently pretty big on independent training, she had more time to spend with Hikaru-chan! How could she not be happy about that? Two or three missions and then she was home for the rest of the day! The only thing better would be if Shika had the same flexible schedule.

Today though, she was going to see what he did during training. Not like she had anything to do anyways, a Zoro bunshin was in the library and another regular Bunshin was scouting the Hyuga residence, and Chrona was baby sitting for Hikaru-chan. So she was obviously, very bored. In her defense though, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

She found training ground ten where Shika's team always met and trained at. There they were, but they weren't training.

She watched confusedly from her perch in a tree as Shikamaru and Asuma played shogi, Chouji ate under a shady tree, and Ino talked to him about something or other about her parents. If this was their idea of training, then maybe she should come by more often.

"Don't you have training with your team?" She nearly fell out of her tree in surprise when she heard Asuma address her. She thought he was too busy trying to escape Shika's trap on the board to notice her. She really needed to stop underestimating jounin.

"Individual training." She explained without really explaining. She had become a master at that after nearly two years. Which reminded her, she still had to inform Shikamaru about Hikaru's birthday plans.

"Shika, I decided after the party we're going to Ichiraku's. I want to tell the old man and Ayame-nee the truth." She said vaguely. No need to explain needlessly lest someone put the pieces together and came out with a picture of a little boy with four whisker marks.

"Party?" Ino questioned immediately. There was a party and she wasn't invited? How dare they!

"Oh yeah, a whole year's gone by." Chouji chuckled. He already had Hikaru's present wrapped up and waiting for the weekend.

"So you're not worried how the ramen couple will react?" Shikamaru asked her, not even taking his eyes off the shogi board. Lazy boy.

"I've known them for nearly as long as I can remember! I think we can trust them. Besides, he's never had their ramen before." He was too young before, but now she could cut the noodles into managable sizes so he could eat it without too much trouble.

"Hold on, who are we talking about here?" Ino asked in a frustrated manner, her long hair whipped back and forth when she tried to shift her gazes between the three of them.

"The cutest boy ever." Naome shrugged.

"Wait! You're dating Shika aren't you?" Ino was about to pull out her hair in frustration. Couldn't these people explain their meanings?

"Who said I was dating anyone? I just don't like shopping at all. Hate it in fact." Naome decided it was time to steer the conversation from the original topic.

"So you're dating this other guy?" She sighed, thinking she had finally managed to understand their annoying double meanings.

"Ew. He's way too young. Besides, that would be awkward." Naome shuddered. Why, oh why was she cursed with such imagination? Why did Ino have to automatically go there? Why?

"Who's the guy!" Ino finally screamed. She'd had more than enough of this. She wanted to know what the fuck everyone was talking in riddles about and she wanted to know now!

"Technically he's not a guy. Too young." Though she didn't specify _what_ age he was. But she needed to get away from this topic, things were getting a little dicey and there was a jounin listening in.

"Troublesome girl, why are you really here?" Shikamaru asked suspiciously. Really, he knew she was looking for an out. It was the most logical path he could find out of this potential mine field.

"Hehehee, I heard your sensei is a wind affinity." She told him. Shikamaru knew about Zoro's little sessions with Asuma, so he figured this could be her excuse to try and get the jounin to like her. That, and she was probably bored. He guessed he should be thankful she hadn't tried dropping paint bombs on his head. They took forever to wash out.

"What's it to you?" Asuma interjecting, finally in Shikamaru's own opinion.

"I have one too and I read something about elemental training but didn't understand it. I didn't have anything better to do so I came here to ask some questions." She had now settled herself comfortably on the branch and was laying there like a well fed cat.

"That's a chunin level skill Naome-san, I don't think you're ready." Asuma said, trying to placate the genin. He didn't want to deal with a second Ino, especially not one who seemed to like using double meanings.

"Aw...Shika, why are you torturing him? Why can't you ever finish a game quickly?" She asked curiously. Asuma wondered if she had attention deficit disorder or something. Or maybe she hadn't really come to ask about elemental training.

"Troublesome girl, then I'd have to train." Shikamaru answered. Asuma noticed that Naome didn't seem bothered by her epiphet.

"But Shikaaaaaa!" Naome drawled in a low whine.

"I'm bored!" She finished. Asume belatedly realized she had twisted off the branch and for a second he thought she had fallen, he was proven wrong when she twisted to land on her feet without even changing her expression.

"Ne, Cho will you spar with me?" She asked the happily eating boy.

"I guess it couldn't hurt, but no bunshins, just taijutsu." Naome groaned but nodded. They usually put her on a handicap because of her clones.

Naome waited patiently for Chouji to put away his chips and stand before her. Naome nodded respectfully and he returned the respectful gesture. With a happy war cry Naome jumped forward with a burst of chakra and aimed a straight forward punch to his solar plexus.

Chouji dodged the first attack but she followed up with a high kick towards his temple. He bent backwards a bit to dodge the kick but it left him off balance. Naome grabbed the front of his vest and pulled him forward.

He knew by now what was coming and he deftly twisted as much as he could so rather than breaking his nose it just boxed his ear. He used their close proximity to get her into a headlock that in a real life situation he could use to snap her neck.

However rather than capture her as soon as his arms encircled her neck an elbow hit him just below the rib cage, nearly winding him. He let go of her and tried to get some space. Realistically he knew Naome could wipe the floor with him if she ever felt the wish to. Logically though, he knew she wouldn't. That wasn't how she worked.

Shikamaru had once explained her as carefully insane. She only pulled her punches enough to avoid broken bones but wasn't above giving bruises. She saw them as little red flags that this area needed a little improvement. Training with her, he was glad his clan was known for being able to take as hard as they gave.

So she would wait maybe a second for him to make space before following after him. He hooked her left fist when it came flying out but rather than stop there he turned at an angle so that the arm was dragged behind her and stretched painfully.

He didn't feel so squeamish about hurting her anymore. Sure, he had practically had a heart attack back when she was pregnant, but now he could see how much that had helped her out. She guarded her vitals well after so long protecting them during class spars. Now though, he always gave everything he had. Otherwise she might seriously hurt him.

Not in the spar no, she'd wait until she'd been declared winner. After that though, all bets were off. She hated it when people held back. He could get away with it back when she was pregnant, but afterwards it was taboo and punishable by a diet on his wallet. Paying for himself was bad enough, paying for him and Naome at Ichiraku's?

After ten minutes he was tired and sore in a number of places. He finally yeilded after he nearly got hit by a haymaker that would have left him with an ugly black eye. Naome didn't know her own strength.

"Good fight Cho!" He graciously accepted the offered hand and she hefted him to his feet. One could say many things about Naome, but one could never call her a push over in the ring.

Asuma watched the spar with something akin to curiosity but a little stronger. He had expected this newest InoShikaCho to be as cohesive as it's predecessor so he didn't bother much on team training. Their families could show them their styles and jutsu so he really wasn't needed other than for missions.

However, when he actually met them he had been surprised. And not the good kind. Ino was for lack of better term, a hard handed shrew. Shikamaru was a lazy genius, not unlike his father, but nothing Asuma did seemed to interest him. Chouji was pretty good, friendly enough and skilled in his family techniques. His main problem was he lacked some initiative, not that it was a problem, just that he wasn't interested in being a leader or taking charge of anything other than where they ate after training.

Their teamwork, from what he could see, was fine. That was just it though, it was _fine._ The kind of _fine_ one could achieve simply if they knew the others' techniques. Not the kind of _fine_ one got from experience and friendship. They just went through the motions.

It wouldn't have been a problem. They were still friends, if not the closest, and they worked well together. Except that he had the strangest feeling Shikamaru and Chouji didn't want to be there. Not with Ino, and not with him.

He hadn't really understood _where_ they wanted to be until today though, when Naome Uzumaki dropped by to ask him questions on a chunin level skill she shouldn't have even heard about. None of the genin level books should have info on that, and she shouldn't even know what her element is, let alone his.

She also gave up on the questions rather easily. He had expected her to at least _try_ to wheedle something out of him. But she had only dropped the topic like a hot potato. This led him to believe that it was only an excuse so she could come to the training ground.

Now he could see how the three of them, Naome, Shikamaru, and Chouji, interacted and he was surprised. Not the good kind, but not the bad kind either. More like the between surprise, like when he saw Zoro or something and the boy asked if he had any pointers on a new jutsu.

They clinched, that was the best way to explain it. Like the three of them were cogs in a clock and they only fit with eachother, they weren't interchangable pieces. He wasn't sure if he should be worried about that, since they were on different teams. He decided he wasn't going to bring it up, besides, they were just friends. Just friends.

Naome ended up staying for longer than she meant to. Ino had tried more than once to get more information about the party but Naome always headed her off. She didn't trust Ino enough yet for her to be brought into the fold.

"See you on Saturday!" She called over her shoulder to Shika and Cho. Maybe sooner, but definitely by Saturday.

Definitely by Saturday. Definitely on June 8th. Definitely on her son's birthday.

Definitely not.

"Again." Naome panted in exertion but went back into the brawl just as hard as before. Sasuke and Sakura were teamed against her, throwing punches and blunted kunai. It was already five and she'd had to send a bunshin to the party at her apartment.

Shikamaru, Yoshino, and Shikaku Nara would be there. Just like Chouji, Chrona, and Chouza Akimichi would be. Anko and Kakashi too, but Kakashi was here. Akane Saotome was supposed to be there, along with the Ichiraku's. And of course her little boy was there, in his birthday clothes and probably wearing an adorable party hat.

But she wasn't there for her own son's first birthday.

When she was knocked back that time she tried to use her own momentum to flip back onto her feet. She got halfway there and landed on her rear end.

"Again." Naome didn't get up right away. She took her sweet time to catch her breath this time while she pondered on how she had to send a kage bunshin to her son's birthday. It didn't matter that she got their memories, she wanted to be there for Hikaru!

"Sensei, I told you I have to go!" She tried to reason with him. For some reason he had come to training in a bad mood and was taking it out on her! Sasuke and Sakura, they were fine, just a little winded. She was the one being pummeled all over with blunt force.

"If you're not willing to train how will you become hokage?" He asked her in a condescending tone. She really wished she knew what she had done to piss him off so she could apologize. She hoped she could get away soon. She wasn't sure how much more she could take.

Kakashi wasn't a cruel person. At least he didn't see himself like that. However when he had discovered that Naome had sent a bunshin to team training, he had been upset. Sure, he had found out when Sakura had hit the bunshin for accidentally insulting Sasuke, but that was beside the point.

He expected her to come personally to each meeting. That she didn't upset him. Did she think that just because they only did D-ranks that it was alright to slack off?

"Sensei, with all due respect, I expect to get there with all my limbs intact. I have something more important than training to do though." Naome told him, looking at him with a look in her eyes that reminded him of Kushina when she was late for something important to her. Something like a date with his sensei.

"Naome, you need to realize sending bunshins everytime you want to take a break isn't allowed. You sent a bunshin to the team meeting yesterday and that reflects poorly and both you and me." He tried to explain. She needed to take her punishment and then never do that again. She hadn't been complaining about the D-ranks like her teammates and now he knew why. It hadn't really been her coming to them.

"Something came up." She muttered, not looking him in the eye. Yeah, something like Yoshino coming in for a surprise visit and not giving Naome enough time to make another bunshin to escape. Besides, she came to the other meetings! It was just one time!

She'd had to send her Zoro clone to the meeting instead. She had thought about the bunshin telling Kakashi-sensei that she couldn't make it to training, but explaining why would've been uncomfortable. Later, making a bunshin to switch with while out with Yoshino as Ran would've blown her cover since she was with Yoshino _and_ Shikaku.

"Like what?" That was exactly why she had tried to keep her absence a secret. That question right there. How was she meant to answer that.

"Grr. You want to know why I didn't come to the meeting? Because damnit all if I want to be around people who don't want to be around me!" She finally yelled in anger. She liked to think she had a pretty long fuse. But fuses always burned out and the explosion was never pretty. The longer the fuse, the bigger the bang.

Kakashi's eye widened by about a milimeter when he heard her reason. She thought he didn't want her there? Sure, her teammates could be kind of cold, but they didn't seem to openly hate her either. She never seemed to mind either. Then again, she had been sending bunshins.

"Sensei you can punish me till you're blue in the face, but do it tomorrow! Right now I have somewhere to be!" She turned around and started to run. She wanted to be with her baby. She wanted to be there when he blew out his candles. Damnit, she wanted to watch him unwrap presents with her _own eyes!_

Today was June 8th, her son's first birthday. Naome ended up missing the party.

**END OF CHAPTER SO NOW I HOPE YOUR HAPPY AND NOW I MUST DO SOMETHING ELSE!**

LC; Well, that took a while to type.

Naruto; Only because you kept getting distracted.

Sasuke; By the way, don't you have an english assignment to type?

LC; Why is it that it's only when there's homework due the next day that my muse comes out of hiding?

Naruto; Maybe because you hate homework. That's why you have a C in english.

LC; It's soooo boring though! Not like this story! This story is awesome!

Sasuke; *Sigh* Please review so that LC won't go all emo on us again. She makes me look like Hello Kitty when she goes emo.


	4. God's Grudge

LC; Note to self, save!

Naruto; Your computer sucks.

Sasuke; I thought you got a new computer to avoid viruses.

LC; I did...But damnit! I don't know how to install all this stupid mumbo jumbo! GAH!

Naruto; Just save this everytime you finish a paragraph or something.

LC; I hate having to do that.

Sasuke; It's either that or retype it everyday.

LC; I hate that more! I fucking hate this! GAH!

Disclaimer; I do not own Naruto. I do not own Naruto. I do not own Naruto. Yeah, I'm just depressing myself right now.

Chapter 4; Crazy First Times!

Naome sat on the roof of a brothel that sat across the street from her apartment. She wouldn't be able to crash the party no matter what she tried now. Chrona, Yoshino, and their husbands, were inside. They'd see her and would ask questions. Especially if they saw how alike she and Hikaru were.

She wanted to come out and say that Hikaru was her son and she was his kaa-chan, but she couldn't. She was still afraid that they might take him away. Even if she was an adult in the eyes of the village, Hikaru fell under civilian laws. She had to be sure they wouldn't take him before revealing herself completely. And she wasn't sure she could trust them yet.

So now she sat on the rooftops and tried not to wonder if they'd gotten to cake and ice cream yet. She didn't want to think about missing her son's first birthday party. At least she'd see his first ramen.

She tried to remain upbeat about this. Sure, she missed the first birthday, but there would be others! She'd still have the memories, even if she wasn't there in real life to eat the cake and wipe his face when he got covered in icing! She'd still be there for him. She promised herself.

Naome wished Kakashi had come though. He and Anko were together, sort of, so she had hoped that when Ran invited him that he'd come. Maybe he planned on being late or something, although that had never really happened to Ran, only Naome.

She wondered if he had even gotten a gift for Hikaru. Did he even know what a one year old might like? Probably not. Naome sighed and swung her legs over the edge of the building. She hoped that the party ended soon, they had to go to Ichiraku's before it closed for the night!

An eternity later, the parents left while getting promises from the kids not to be late home. Shikamaru and Chouji went off, pretending to head to a park nearby. They would double back in twenty minutes to meet her at the door. Now only Anko and the Ran bunshin were left.

Naome sighed and jumped down. She walked to the apartment, and opened the door. She had to get ready for tonight. Tonight would be a big first time, one she fully planned on painting later that night! Not Hell or high water would stop her from seeing her son take his first bite of Ichiraku's ramen!

"Hey gaki, what kept you?" Anko asked. She was a little worried when the bunshin had whispered that it was in fact a bunshin. She thought maybe something had happened.

"I got held up at training. I played the part of punching bag." Naome said sourly. Most of the evidence had already healed though. She only had a couple small bruises left now. Even those were vanishing. Being a jinchuriki came in handy sometimes.

"Should I have _words_ with Kakashi?" Anko asked. She had just gone on maternity leave but Kakashi wasn't really acting any different. She had wondered why he hadn't shown up earlier. She had purposely made sure his invite said to come two hours early so that if he was late he'd still get there with everyone else!

"No, he'd wonder how you knew. I plan on telling him before your baby's born anyway. He's practically going to be a member of the family!" Naome said enthusiastically. Besides, he had started hanging out with Anko more now that she was pregnant. Her cover would probably be blown eventually. Better he find out from her than discovering it by walking in on her mid henge or something.

Hikaru got some cute toy shuriken used to train little shinobi from Chrona and Chouza. A book of fairy tales from Yoshino and Shikaku. Shikamaru gave him some little wooden toy shinobi. Chouji got him a big bouncy ball. Anko got him some of the cutest toddler clothes in bright orange and blue! Kakashi though, just left an envelope of money. Naome knew he didn't know what to buy for a small child, but she guessed 20,000 was a good amount of cash anyway!

She wasn't forgiving him for making her miss the party though. In fact, she blamed him even more now. The jerk.

Shikamaru and Chouji came back and they all headed out. Anko stayed behind, since she was tired she decided that she'd just go to bed and let the kids have fun. She trusted that her imouto would be safe with the Nara and Akimichi brat. They just better take care of her imouto and nephew!

Shikamaru felt a chill race up and down his spine. Somewhere, somehow, he knew Anko was thinking of very painful methods to kill him with. What a troublesome crazy jounin! He wondered what he might have done to set her off though.

"And Anko's pregnant with Kakashi-sensei's baby and she said that he wants to take care of her and the baby! Maybe they'll get married!" He froze in the middle of the street as Naome kept on talking about possible dates. The crazy toku-jounin was pregnant? As in hormonal pregnant? As in, Naome pregnant and with a bad mood?

"Troublesome." He muttered before hurrying to catch back up to an oblivious Naome and Hikaru. If that was true, the kid might be troublesome as well. This was bad. This was beyond troublesome. This deserved an actual curse. Damn!

They arrived without incident at the Ichiraku's ramen shack. Shikamaru noticed the confused look Ayame gave Hikaru but she recovered quickly, for a civilian anyway.

"Naome-chan, who's the little boy?" She asked curiously, looking between Hikaru and Naome. They really did look alike. He was surprised fewer people hadn't made the connection already.

"You might want to sit down Ayame-nee, it's going to be a long story." Naome sighed, suddenly feeling a lot less sure of herself. Would Ayame be mad at her for keeping such a big secret? What about the Old Man?

Shikamaru watched the reactions of the ramen chef and his troublesome daughter. Anger at whoever raped Naome, sympathy and sadness for hiding her pregnancy, irritation that they hadn't been told earlier, and pointed looks at him when the story was finished and Naome stuffing her face. What was that about!

"Oh, Shikamaru-kun, could I please speak to you _alone_?" Ayame asked him kindly. He had a bad feeling about this.

_Uchiha Compound, 9:00._

Sasuke climbed out of his shower and dried his hair. A towel was wrapped around his waist and the start of a six pack was sitting on his abs. He was well muscled for a twelve year old. He didn't look in the mirror to admire the reflection though, unlike any normal boy just reaching the start of puberty.

He pulled on his shorts and an under shirt before walking down the hall to his bedroom. His onyx eyes didn't look left or right when he passed the rooms that used to belong to his family. They were gone and it wouldn't do to get himself worked up until he couldn't sleep for the nightmares again.

His room was at the end of the hall. He used to have the one next to the kitchen, but that one was a little too close to where the action took off for comfort. So now he slept in the old guest bedroom. It didn't really matter anyway, it only had a closet full of clothes and a bed. It was bleak, even by his standards.

"Maybe I should redecorate." He muttered humorlessly.

He laid down on his bed and stared up at the white washed ceiling. His thoughts didn't follow any particular pattern, drifting from training to what he'd make for lunch tomorrow to how best to avoid Sakura after training. He personally found that jumping along rooftops was the best method as Sakura apparently feared falling and rarely followed him up.

'Naome holds back.' That irked him, but he'd long accepted that fact. She held back in the academy as well, especially back when she wore those hoodies. Why did she switch clothes styles anyway? Was it really because she started dating that Shikamaru guy? That never rung right in his mind.

Naome Uzumaki, quite possibly the most irritating and confusing genin of the village. One who possessed a mysterious jounin skill that she never should've had access to. Who taught her that kage bunshin jutsu? How did she gain such strength with her punches. He was sure that he'd be black and blue in the morning, some bruises had already healed and they bothered him no matter how he lay.

That ability she had to carve things into wood, how did she do it? She said it was just a trick, but he tried to repeat the feat and all it did was make the bark explode. That hadn't been a good experience.

He sighed and rolled onto his side. He needed to sleep and thinking about how she managed to do that with her chakra wasn't helping that along. Besides, since she ran off from training earlier he'd probably be asked to join another Pound-Naome spar.

_"Grr. You want to know why I didn't come to the meeting? Because damnit all if I want to be around people who don't want to be around me!" _His eyes flashed back open. Did she think they didn't want her around? He liked her better than Sakura at least, and definitely better than Kakashi. He was a worthless sensei, he hadn't taught them anything but how to properly paint a fence.

Her eyes when she said that reminded him of _his_ eyes. That day, right before he entered the academy. _He_ had threatened his father with missing that ANBU meeting if his father didn't go to Sasuke's entrance ceremony! _His_ eyes had been the same as her's, or her's had been like _his._

Why were their eyes so alike? The situation was completely different! What did that look mean when Naome wore it?

"She was late for something important." Late for something. Late for what? Something like his entrance ceremony. Something that held a higher priority than her training to be Hokage. Something to do with that Shikamaru guy? She cared about him didn't she? Was she really going on a date for him but the training session made her late? Why would she care about that?

No, she was late for something else. It must have to do with her mysterious disappearances after missions. She always left with an anticipating smile. She was always looking forward to doing something after training.

_The Next Day, Training Ground 7, 10:00._

Kakashi appeared in a swirl of leaves and looked at his genin. Naome was wearing a blank face and looking down at the water, she looked like she had calmed down a bit. Sakura was asking Sasuke on date after date and being turned down everytime. Sasuke looked like he wished something would come and save him from the pink leech attached to his arm.

"Well, I've decided we're not doing any missions today. Today we'll be doing a team building excercise. We're going to visit everyone's houses!" He had thought it over and he honestly guessed he had over reacted. She had only sent a bunshin once. Sakura hit her everyday and she never vanished in smoke before!

Besides, he had been going through her file, and her housing wasn't listed. She probably didn't file the paperwork correctly or something but this gave him the oppurtunity to see her home for himself.

And later he'd take them all out for ramen to make amends. She didn't seem to be the kind of person to slack off on training.

Naome heard it, she just didn't believe it. She had never suspected something like this would happen. How could she avoid them finding out where she lived? It wouldn't be so bad if it was just Sasuke and Sakura, but Kakashi _knew_ Ran! He'd recognize the apartment! He'd find out about her! He'd put two and two together and come out with Hikaru's heritage!

None of this showed on her face. In fact, looking at her one might wonder if she had even heard Kakashi's announcement. Her facial features stayed resolutely blank, not revealing the inner turmoil she felt.

"That would be a great idea Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura squealed. She could show Sasuke-kun around her house and introduce him to her mom! Such a shame that her father wasn't in the village! Darn it!

"Is that really such a good idea?" Sasuke questioned. He wasn't sure he was comfortable with the idea of Sakura in his house. She might try to steal his underwear or something. Coupled with the fact that it was _his_ house and he didn't want to go there again so soon. He never went home until after training. He only went there to sleep!

Hearing Sasuke announce his doubts of the idea gave Naome a brilliant idea. It would only take a little acting and she had perfected her skills a long time ago.

"Yeah sensei, talk about callous." She muttered, letting her brows draw together. She bit her lip for added affect.

"Sasuke and I are orphans, we don't have anyone we can introduce you to. What, are we just supposed to show you around? Sasuke maybe, he has a whole district, I live in a tiny apartment!" She continued.

Kakashi actually did think of that. Thus he had the perfect argument for that. At least in his mind.

"Ah, but as your sensei I have temporary legal guardianship of you and Sasuke so I should know where you live. I know where he and Sakura live, though I've never been to either's house, but I've never been to your's." Damn, he had her there. He had been to her house, he just didn't know it.

"What about my punishment? Aren't we going to continue the death spar?" She tried. It was worth a shot and she really didn't want him finding out like this? And he had legal guardianship over her? How come she wasn't aware of this? Was he just bluffing?

"Besides, I'm a girl who lives on her own. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with a pervert knowing where I live." She knew what that little orange book was! Don't think she didn't!

"Naome, your housing isn't listed in your file, and it should be. Just give me your address." Kakashi sighed. His brilliant plan was going up in smoke all around him. The only one enthusiastic about the idea was Sakura!

"I'd love to, really, but I can't. I enjoy my privacy too much." Naome retorted. Something told her that sensei's fuse was getting shorter but unless she could somehow switch apartments, he wasn't getting an address from her.

"Besides my place is filthy! I really need to do some cleaning!" Hmm, switch apartments. That gave her an idea!

"Look, I'll hash out a deal with you!" She finally growled bluntly, trying to make it look like making a deal was the last thing she wanted to do. It was, but she'd do it anyway.

"I'll make a half dozen bunshins to clean up my apartment while we go to Sakura's and Sasuke's houses! That way my place gets cleaned and you still get a peek at my place!" Kakashi had the strangest feeling that she was trying to trick him in to something, but he relented. It was the best deal he'd get without losing his temper.

Naome made six bunshins with the silent instructions to set up a fake apartment in her building using one of the unoccupied apartments. She'd take some furniture from her real apartment and scrub the place so it looked recently clean, fill the fridge, and leave some training supplies lying somewhere. With any luck she'd fool a jounin.

Meeting Sakura's kaa-san had been nerve wracking. The woman had taken one look at her and a scowl had covered her face. Naome was reminded once again that she was a jinchuriki, and people didn't like those. She had to be on her best behavior and she never touched anything for fear of calling down a mother's wrath.

Kakashi frowned when he saw how Suzuka Haruno treated Naome. It was like the orange loving blonde wasn't even there. Just a piece of the background, seen but never acknowledged. Or maybe more like a stain on the wall hidden by a picture. You know it's there, but you ignore it in hopes others will as well.

He was starting to think this might not have been such a good idea. Especially when Naome's shoulders started to slump and her head tilted downward. He had never known Naome to be the shy type, he could only hope he hadn't just made a mistake.

Sasuke's home wasn't anything special, all things considered. Naome had half feared there might be blood stains all over from that awful night, but other than a hole in the wall from a kunai, all the damage had been repaired. Why had that one hole in front of his house been left there anyway?

Sasuke looked pretty upset about them being in his house. He outright refused to let anyone into his bedroom for one and all the other rooms were locked. It was a rather tense hour that they spent at his home. Kakashi pretty much expected that too.

Half way to her fake apartment, Naome recieved the memories of her bunshins. They had finished their jobs and even added some personal touches like a few potted plants and team seven's photo on her nightstand.

Kakashi was surprised. All the time he spent with Anko and he never suspected his student lived on the floor above them. Her apartment was obviously freshly cleaned, probably due to her bunshins, but the rest of it didn't ring true. The house just didn't feel 'lived in'. If he had to describe it, he would say it was like she had just moved in.

The walls were blank, the furniture were little splotches of color in a world of white, and even the plants looked brand new. It was like she redecorated before they got there.

"This place isn't that bad." Sakura said helpfully. Her day was pretty much ruined but she figured she may as well be nice. Naome hadn't wanted them to come over but she had gone to all the trouble of cleaning the place up for them!

"The rent's decent and everything works, can't complain." Naome muttered. Inwardly she was relieved her little deception appeared to be working so well. From now on she'd have to make sure this place always looked inhabited, in case a teammate popped up.

Finally, they all went out for ramen! When Kakashi suggested it without her whines, Naome knew something was up. Was he just apologizing and trying to get on her good side? If so, it sort of worked. Staying angry about missing a party, even her son's birthday party, wasn't something she could do.

"Naome-chan, how are you and team seven doing?" Ayame-nee greeted her. Naome was glad she was acting normally, since she had just learned a pretty big secret last night.

"Can't complain much. Have you seen Shika or Cho today?" She asked.

"Sorry, no." Ayame-nee answered, handing over a few bowls of ramen to the team and her.

"Guess I have to look for them later then!" Naome chuckled. Maybe they went to that barbeque place again? Team ten seemed to prefer that restaurant.

"Naome, there's something I've been meaning to ask you." Sakura said nervously. She was glad Ichiraku had a diet ramen. Low in salt, fat, and any other nonneccessary things that might ruin her chances to be with Sasuke-kun!

"Why do you live in the Red Light district? Normally orphans living on their own are given apartments on the north east side of the village." Of course Sakura of all people would know that. Any orphan who left the orphanage before actually becoming a shinobi was always placed in the 'good' side of konoha for their own protection. She had been lucky to find her first apartment on her own!

"The rent was too expensive and unlike those orphans no one knew who my parents were, so there was no emergency trust fund set up. I couldn't afford to stay there." She lied. It sounded like a good lie to her ears. Besides, the part about not knowing who her parents were_ used _to be true. Now she knew who her mother was.

Kakashi didn't say anything. His ramen bowl was mysteriously empty but he didn't even look up from his book. Emergency trust funds weren't uncommon, in fact shinobi parents did use trust funds in case something happened on missions so their children would be taken care of. However Naome shouldn't know about them.

This reminded him of something Asuma had said to him last time they had met up. Just a few days ago too, now he thought about it.

_Flashback no jutsu!_

"Oi, Kakashi! Your genin Naome popped up during my team's training session." Asuma informed him when they met at the front of the barbeque restaurant Asuma liked so much.

"You didn't test her affinity did you?" He asked. Kakashi mentally raised an eye brow. Where did that come from?

"No, she's only a genin." He had answered. Maybe the cigarette smoke was getting to his head?

"She asked me about elemental manipulation today and said she had a wind affinity." Asuma had been rather surprised to hear that. Wind affinities were rare in Konoha, the Sarutobi clan was the only one with it as far as he knew. Well, until he met Zoro and Naome anyway.

"I never even mentioned affinities. She shouldn't have clearance to any books about it either." Kakashi muttered. So many mysteries surrounding Naome Uzumaki. Was someone teaching her about this stuff? And if so, who? Why?

_Flashback Kai!_

They seperated after eating, Kakashi gave them instructions to do individual training as always. Naome decided she didn't have to go and see Shika just then. Today she'd take a day just for herself! The Hot Springs sounded pretty good to her weary self.

So she went to the springs and entered the lady's side. Once she lowered herself into the water she sighed in bliss. It felt good to relax as Naome instead of Ran. Just to lay back and take it all in.

"This is the life." She sighed happily.

"Mind if we join you?" Naome eeped and opened her eyes to see two familiar forms coming in through the stream. One she recognized as Kurenai, and jounin sensei of team eight, the other was a classmate of her's, Hinata!

"Not at all, come on in Kurenai-san, Hinata-san!" She welcomed them. She really needed to stop 'eeping' whenever she was surprised. It was totally going to ruin her reputation! And it sounded so girly!

"You remember my name." Kurenai noticed. Naome inwardly gulped while her mind automatically provided an explanation.

"You were one of the jounin sensei right? Hinata's on your team!" The three kunoichi relaxed in the springs for a while, talking about inane things. Well, it was mostly Kurenai and Naome but Hinata interjected a couple of times.

"So is Kakashi running you ragged or is today a day off?" Kurenai asked jokingly.

"Let's just say we're hardly working and leave it at that. He hasn't taught us anything!" Naome pouted. It was just D-rank after D-rank as far as that man was concerned. Sure, they could do a couple of those a day, but who cared? Other than that 'punishment' they had never even sparred!

"Well, I'm sure that he's just trying to instil a little teamwork." Kurenai tried to reassure her. In all actuality she wasn't sure what Kakashi was thinking. She had been teaching her students new tactics to tracking and evading capture, genjutsu, and correcting mistakes in their taijutsu.

"Teamwork? Sakura doesn't do anything that has a chance of making her sweaty and Sasuke doesn't speak. He just kind of grunts all day." Naome muttered. This really hadn't been how she pictured a genin team.

"I'm afraid I can't really do anything to help with that." Kurenai sighed. Sakura had good chakra control, she'd probably make a good genjutsu specialist, however she needed to be knocked out of her fangirl mentatality. She wasn't sure Kakashi was the best for that. As for the Uchiha, she could only say it could be worse.

"I can't complain. Not like my training is suffering what with my kage bunshins." Kurenai had heard Kakashi asking if they knew who had taught her that skill, but nobody knew.

"Na-Naome-san, where did you learn a jounin level skill?" Surprisingly it was Hinata who asked. Naome was definitely surprised too. After nobody had bothered to question her she hadn't really done much other than count her blessings. Still, that was one of the only skills she could truthfully explain.

"I did Shino's father a favor once and he gave me a scroll with it on it." She answered cryptically.

"A favor?" Hinata asked curiously. What could Naome do for a clan head to gain such a technique.

"He said it would suit my chakra capacity better than normal bunshins and boy was he right!" She laughed. She was thankful she had returned the scroll unopened. Probably one of the best decisions of her life!

"Well, that's interesting." Kurenai mumbled. It must have been an important favor for Naome to be rewarded so generously by the Aburame clan. Maybe she could ask Shino about it tomorrow at training.

Naome left them shortly after. She dressed and left the springs feeling better than when she got there. Lunch was ramen at Ichirakus and then she went to the training grounds. She had relaxed enough, besides, she had a new jutsu to practice!

_An Hour Later!~_

This was harder than she expected. Original Naome sat on a tree stump and tried to think of the problem. She was forced to conclude learning a new element sucked.

One of the requirements to become a jounin was that you had to have some level of mastery over two different elements. She had wind down almost to an art, if she could only find a waterfall she'd be set for life, so she oly needed one other element. The one she chose wasn't her complete opposite, but it was one that had a rather violent conflict with wind.

Personally, as soon as she read that wind makes fire stronger she had closed off all other options. Instant explosions had danced through her head the first ten minutes before they withered and died. Maybe some things just weren't meant to be.

She was obviously doing something wrong, the question was what. Naome watched her fifty odd bunshins laboring over one leaf each. They had been trying to burn the leaves for an hour and so far, no progress. She was really starting to wish she had brought an explosive tag or two with her. These stupid leaves were laughing at her, she just knew it.

"Hmm, I had to make my chakra sharper for wind." She muttered, remembering her first attempt at elemental manipulation. So if she followed that pattern, then shouldn't she try making it hotter?

Her bunshins dispelled in groups and she began making a new crew. She'd put this method to work and when a bunshin made some progress, she'd make it dispel so everyone else could figure it out! Simple, easy.

Boring. Sure, it had been moderately entertaining the first ten or so minutes. After that, she got bored. So she turned to the Hyuga compound prank, which was close to bearing its golden fruits! Pranking that place was going to feel _sooooo_ good!

The To Do list had all the information her bunshins had been able to find. Honestly, not as much as she liked, but way more than she got from ANBU and she ran circles around those guys! And she used to think those guys were the elite! HA!

So all that was left was the actual application. If her bunshins failed, they were henged into random looking people so they couldn't be connected to her. Hopefully. She really didn't know any other people who could toss kage bunshins around like free candy.

Prank Bunshin, who from this point on shall be named Penny, crept closer to the Hyuga compound. This was her target and she had all the supplies she needed. Now to get in. Around this time, Hontaro Hyuga normally returned to the compound, however today he was delayed, looking for Hinata who was apparantly training late with her team.

Her plan was actually pretty simple. She henged into a nondescript Hyuga and entered the compound without anyone bothering to even stop her. Once inside the compound itself, she headed for the main building.

In the Hyuga compound, security was always a concern. With eyes that can see through walls, of course that would be the case! So a long time ago, the Hyuga created a seal. These past few weeks, she had tried figuring out how they saw through their walls, when in actuality they didn't! The seal was painted the same color as the walls themselves, so they blended in, the only way you could see them is if one knew where to look.

So Penny easily got into the building. She then ducked into a hallway closet and dropped the henge. Now for the boring part. She had to wait until everyone went to sleep and the night guard came out. Hopefully nobody would need to get into this closet until then.

Long after night fell, around 2 in the morning actually, Penny shook herself fully awake and got to work. Bunshin supplies didn't last, but she had gotten a scroll from Naome with everything she would need. All along the inside of the compound, she methodically painted huge, glaring Byakugan eyes. On a whim, she also used black to paint over the seals, so that they were fully visible.

When she was done and waiting for the paint to dry, she unsealed a piece of paper and pencil. She sat down and wrote out the details to her amazingly simple plan. She pointed out flaws in their seal, and other things about their secvurity she had noticed.

_If all these things are looked at, I don't think anyone will be able to get in. It took me a couple weeks to figure out how! Consider yourselves' the most air tight place in Konoha!  
>Signed, The Prankster Artist!<em>

With this done and the paint dry, she taped the note to the wall and vanished in a puff of smoke. Her work here, was done!

_Naome's Apartment, 3:00 AM._

Naome jolted awake when the memories sorted themselves into her mind. She glanced at her alarm clock before she rolled over. It was way too early to be gloating over a prank well pulled. She'd celebrate with some Ichiraku after training tomorrow. At a more holy hour!

Time ticked by, and eventually the Sun rose. At seven, Naome's alarm went off, waking her once again. This time she slammed the button and rolled off of the bed. Time to get everything ready before dropping Hikaru at the Day Care. She would make a bunshin make some breakfast while she woke and dressed him.

Hikaru yawned and wiped the sleep from his eyes. She smiled when she saw it. He could be just too cute! She took the camera from the dresser top and snapped a shot while he stared blinking up at her. This was totally going in the family scrapbook!

"Hikaru-chan, let's get you all dressed up okay?" She cajoled him, slowly bringing his night shirt up and over his head. She decided to put him in a green onsie today, maybe this time she'd bring him home wearing his own clothes rather than whatever Lee brought with him for the kids.

She had to be waiting with her team at the bridge by at least nine, which left plenty of time for breakfast with her son before she dropped him off. Today was also kind of important because she would be adding her real name to his sign out sheet! Which meant she could drop him off and pick him up again as herself!

"Kaachan, wanna sweep!" Hikaru yawned again. He was so cute in the morning, with his little hair all messy and rubbing his eye like that! She definitely had the cutest boy in the entire world!

"It's time to get up Hikaru-chan, you have to go to the Day Care after breakfast!" Naome scolded him lightly. By now the bacon and eggs her bunshin was preparing should be almost done.

"Dun wanna! Stay with kaachan!" He cried. Naome knew a temper tantrum was on the way. If she didn't head this off soon he might still be crying when she dropped him off!

"Hikaru-chan, how about after I pick you up I let you watch me train!" This wasn't something she liked to do alot. She was always a little worried that she might accidentaly do something that hurt him if he was too close. So it was like a treat whenever she offered, and it usually worked to head off any tantrums before they got too much steam.

"Kay!" She sighed and finished buttoning up the onesie. He was so like her it was kind of scary, even though he seemed to have inherited some of Ran as well. Probably because she spent a lot of time as Ran while pregnant.

She henged into Ran before they left and carried her son up the street towards the Day Care. These early morning walks right after breakfast always calmed her and helped her plan out what she would do next.

Once Hikaru was happily playing with his age mates, Ran went to the front desk. Time to add a name to the sign out sheet.

"Here you go Yurichi-san." Today it looked like Tenten wasn't here, today it was Ino Yamanaka.

"I didn't know you used this Day Care." Ino made small talk. She loved to play with Hikaru-chan whenever her mother baby sat for Yurichi-san. He was such a cutie! He'd be a lady killer when he grew up!

"Oh Hai, I've been using it since just after he was born." Ran responded politely. She accepted the documents and carefully wrote in another name, right below Anko's and Yoshino's.

"Eh, you know Naome?" Ino questioned when she saw the name Ran wanted to put in. She would never connect those two! Even if Hikaru's last name _was_ Uzumaki.

"I've known her almost all her life. I guess you could say we're like sisters." Ran laughed nervously. This was why she didn't like being around her classmates as Ran. They knew Naome too well. First Kiba, now Ino? Was the universe trying to tell her something?

"Really? I'd have never guessed!" Ino muttered, mostly to herself. Although, now she thought about it, they did kind of act alike. Only Ran was a lot quieter, they were both polite and both had some kind of connection with Hikaru. Actually, now was her chance! She could finally ask why Hikaru's last name was Uzumaki!

"Yurichi-san, was your husband an Uzumaki?" She asked casually, trying to put her father's instructions on interrogation to good use. Sometimes the best methods were the ones without the aid of metal tools.

"You're confused about the different last names? Well, for now I'll keep that a secret." Ran chuckled. If she wanted to be able to come out as Hikaru's mother, she had to stop denying affiliation with herself. It would only get more confusing later on! Besides, with Shika and Cho already on her side, it would be best to bring in Ino soon.

Ino humphed to herself about adults who kept secrets but let the matter drop. For some reason a lot of people were doing interesting things and she wasn't in the loop! She couldn't find any gossip about it either, since it was adult stuff. And adults never shared with kids! Bah!

Ran said goodbye to her son before exitting the building. She would have to roof run if she wanted to get there before Kakashi, but she wasn't in any hurry. She wondered what they'd end up doing today, maybe more D-ranks? So long as it wasn't another 'team building excercise' like yesterday.

Naome landed near the bridge and saw her teammates ready and waiting, just like any other day. Sakura took a minute to scream at her for being late before going back to Sasuke Watching. Sasuke looked at her and grunted something that probably passed for a greeting in his mind. Nothing had changed from yesterday.

"Greetings my cute students!" Naome turned on cue to see their sensei appear in a swirl of leaves. The show off. Even if shunshin looked pretty cool.

"Ne, Kakashi-sensei, what are we doing today? Baby sitting, weeding a garden, grocery shopping?" Naome sighed. She didn't much mind them, but they did get kind of repetitive after a while.

"Actually, I think you are all ready for a C-rank mission!" He said cheerfully.

Naome was a little conflicted as they walked to the tower. On the one hand, it was going to feel so good to be outside the village for the first time in her life! Plus she might actually get to fight against some bandits or something! On the other hand, she had a one year old son and adult friends who would wonder where Ran went off to.

She was still thinking about it when Kakashi requested their C-rank. She zoned back in when the Hokage gave her sensei a scroll though.

"Your mission will be to escort Tazuna-san back to his country, Nami no Kuni, and guard him until the construction of his bridge is complete." Kakashi read monotonously. Gee, he was really making it sound exciting wasn't he? Going all out.

"Nani? I paid super money for super ninja but all I got were super brats!" Naome turned away from her sensei towards a side door in the room. A peasant man with a sake bottle and a five o clock shadow stood in the doorway, scrutinizing them with glazed eyes. Oh joy, they got to escort a drunkard. She hated drunks.

"Especially the short one with the stupid tattoos!" Short one with tatoos? Naome reached up to put her whisker marks and glared at the man.

"These are birthmarks, baka." She could just see how this was going to end. She would get pissed and rip this guy a new one, and then he'd go crying to the council about how cruelly he was treated by his body guards!

"They're still super stupid." He muttered balefully, gazing into his bottle as though searching for that last sweet drop. He and alcohol poisoning deserved eachother.

"We'll meet again in two hours and head out." Kakashi instructed them. Naome heard and swallowed. Only two hours, but she wouldn't even pick Hikaru-chan up until 5! What would she do? She thought she'd have more time to file a long term D-rank!

In her apartment twenty minutes later, she thought of something. Kage bunshins were clearly a gift from the heavens themselves. Some kind of karmic retribution as an apology for the Kyuubi!

She summoned five kage bunshins and set them out for different jobs. Two bunshins would be in charge of a new prank on the giant stadium in the village, which she knew was being heavily guarded since it was being used for the jounin exams that would take place in a week. Of course, heavily guarded to her meant come on in!

One bunshin was a Zoro clone and would go to the library to talk with Shiho the next day before calmly explaining that he was leaving on a short C-rank mission for a couple weeks. This way his absence wouldn't be seen as suspicious. Another bunshin henged into Ran. This Ran bunshin would be heading out to the Hokage tower and scheduling for a long term D-rank baby sitting mission, after getting out some money from the bank of course, to pay for it all.

Finally, the last bunshin would pick Hikaru up at five and take him to watch her train like she had promised. Of course, she would train in conditioning, so that she wouldn't accidentaly dispel. She would also make sure that Hikaru was safe and sound at the apartment before poofing.

The Ran clone would last the longest, until whatever genin team was chosen came over. She would take a suitcase packed of some of Ran's clothing and leave the village, going on a short notice visit to her elderly father who had passed away. She couldn't bring Hikaru because her family didn't like that he was illegitimate.

With this in mind, and her bunshins all ready for whatever job they'd been assigned, Naome could pack with her mind at ease. She could finally look forward to leaving the village for the first time! For her first C-ranked mission! She was so excited!

She sealed most of her stuff into a single scroll and hid it inside a pocket on the inside of her leather jacket. It fitted her in a way that let large things be hidden but looked skin tight all the same and it was a black in color. She would've liked something a little brighter, but at least she got an orange tank under it. Her pants were dark blue, almost midnight color.

In her backpack she put some spare clothes, mostly it was for show. An empty backpack would raise suspicions after all. Once she was set up and ready to go, she roof jumped to the front gate. She was a little early, and knowing Kakashi he would probably be an hour late, but she didn't really mind.

"Maa, early are we?" Naome eeped and turned around to see her sensei leaning against the check out point. Her sensei, who was chronically late for everything. Someone had thrown a monkey wrench in the natural order of things.

"Imposter!" She cried, pointing accusingly at the clearly fake jounin. Kakashi Hatake was never early for anything!

"What were the first words you spoke to our team?" She asked him. Hey, in her mind it was justified.

"My first impression is I don't like you." He answered. He chuckled a little when Naome pouted. He would admit it wasn't normal for him to be on time for anything, but he had a good reason this time. This mission wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

"Kakashi-sensei, you're here! On time?" Sakura gaped when she arrived. She wouldn't believe it if she hadn't seen it!

"I am? Hmm, strange." He joked. At least, they hoped he was joking. Something told Naome they were hoping in vain though. Their sensei was one hard nut to crack.

"Well, let's get moving!" Tazuna laughed haughtily. His good mood seemed to have re-established itself in his brain dead head. He was still drinking sake too!

"This'll be my first time ever outside the village!" Naome giggled, she was almost shaking in her excitement.

"Maa, don't get so excited Naome, until we get to Nami things won't look too different." Kakashi informed her. Hey, it was his obligation as a sensei to disillusion his students right?

"Who cares? I'm out!" She laughed, she was in too good a mood to be brought down by her pessimistic sensei!

Kakashi sighed in faux exasperation. Mentally he was amusing himself by putting together a list of facts and rumors about his most entertaining student. The blonde haired, most unpredictable, likely most competent, genin in Konoha.

_Fact: Naome knew several C and B ranked ninjutsu._

_Rumor; Naome left the village secretly frequently when she was ten, less so after turning eleven._

_Fact: Naome knew at least one jounin skill, Kage Bunshin, and used it to great affect._

_Rumor; (Actually, might be fact but not confirmed as yet) Naome learned the above jounin technique from a scroll gifted to her by Shibi Aburame._

_Fact: Naome is apparently connected to Hikaru Uzumaki in some way. Hikaru has been shown to have the whisker like birthmarks. Perhaps they're a hereiditary trait of the Uzumaki? No way to confirm that though. Maybe Uzushio had more survivors than only Kushina. This would explain Ran's appearance, even though her last name is Yurichi._

_Rumor; Knows Anko? Was seen with Anko during the Kyuubi festival right before graduation? Hmm, I'll have to ask Anko if that's true._

_Fact: Has knowledge of elemental manipulation training and is a wind type. She probably hasn't completed the second part though, since there aren't many waterfalls in Konoha. None that she knows of certainly._

_Rumor; Dating a mysterious boy who is not Shikamaru Nara? Hmm, well he heard that one from his pink haired student when she was gossiping to Naome, asking about the 'new' boyfriend. Naome deflected the questions though, so he wasn't sure if she was really dating anybody._

_Fact: According to Asuma her fighting style looks tailored to deal with multiple opponents, but is rather harsh when used against only one. Kakashi trusted his fellow jounin's assessment, though he didn't see alot of it during that punishment session. Naome did hold back alot there though, probably because of Sakura._

_Fact: Moderately talents in Information gathering. She uses her smiling face as a poker face, interesting. Good skill at ambigious statements too._

_Fact: According to academy reports she gained twenty pounds over a course of a few months then lost most of it almost overnight. And a strange, unexplained absence for two weeks? Huh, went on a weight loss program maybe?_

Honestly, he knew less about his other students. However the strangeness was the facts themselves. His sensei's daughter must have had an interesting childhood. He felt a little bad about never even seeing her when she was younger.

He felt an ache in his covered eye and resisted the urge to scratch it. Obito was trying to tell him something again. Couldn't he tell him something without being a literal pain? Kakashi sighed and focused back on his students.

Sasuke had taken point and seemed rather focused, although obviously he was bored. Kakashi would probably start showing him chakra sensing techniques later, back at the village. Sakura wasn't paying attention to her surroundings at all, lost in her own little world. He'd have to do something about that, probably. Naome...was folding an origami crane?

"Naome, you should probably pay more attention to what's going on around you." He advised her.

"I probably should." She agreed, still carefully folding the paper. It was actually starting to look like a crane.

"Then why are you folding paper?" He asked her incrediously. Really, she was definitely the most unpredictable genin!

"Because on a C-rank the most we'll come against are bandits! Easy prey even for academy students!" She pointed out. Logically, it was sound. Bandits weren't really a threat to any ninja worth their salt. However, he knew this mission was more than it seemed. Maybe he should've warned them? Nah!

Naome happened to glance up when she was explaining her logic to Kakashi-sensei and she caught sight of Tazuna looking pretty nervous. He hid it pretty well for an old civilian, and in ninja terms he was really old, but she could see that nervous twitch a mile away!

"Ne, Tazuna-san is something wrong?" She asked casually, this should be handles delicately.

"Huh? N-Nothing." He stuttered. Naome's eyes narrowed and she carefully looked around the trail they were on. She couldn't see or hear anything, but that didn't mean much in the shinobi world.

_'Note to self, ask sensei for chakra sensing techniques.'_ She thought to herself. She'd feel better if she could be a hundred percent sure nothing was going to go screwy on her first mission. She really didn't want anything to happen, not yet at least! She had a baby boy waiting at home!

A baby boy waiting at home, with only a couple kage bunshin around him, who would soon be entrusted to a genin team she might not know for an indistinguishable amount of time. If she had done the math right, and they didn't stay longer than a month or so, it would cost her around 300,000 ryo! A hefty price to pay, but for a long term D-rank, it really wasn't much. Even though it was just below the amount of a normal C-rank.

It would put a sizeable dent into her savings, but she had saved enough that it shouldn't be too much of a difference. She should still have enough to pay all the bills and go grocery shopping. With the rent she got from all her tenants and money from the dozen D-ranks, she had cash to burn that was for sure.

And if she _did_ know the genin team? Well, it was probably a good thing she had all her personal memorabilia moved into her fake apartment just in case. The paintings of her and Hikaru, the family scrapbook, the books, all of them had been moved by a spare bunshin so that nobody would know Naome lived there.

All she could do now, was keep moving forward and wait to get the memories of each respective bunshin. Which shouldn't take too long, she'd probably get the first set of memories tonight.

Naome finished her paper crane before unfolding it to reveal she had made it out of an explosion tag. Well, her own special explosion tag anyway. This tag had a blast radius much smaller than normal tags, but also more powerful. Whoever got hit by it would be in for some second degree burns, at least!

Walking at civilian pace was so boring! How did civis cope with such a pace? Did they have some kind of condition that prevented boredom? If so, they ought to share it with the poor ninja who had to escort them everywhere!

Naome looked ahead of them, the long, and straight, trail didn't let anyone see anything different. It was the same for as far as the eye could see. Just trees and a boring trail on and on until they came to something that could hold her attention for longer than ten seconds!

Her eyes narrowed a little and she squinted into the horizon. Was that a puddle up ahead? Only one puddle? But it hadn't rained for almost a week!

She watched as the puddle got closer and noticed that it looked kind of strange too. The water wasn't muddy at all, even though it was lying on a dusty road. As disguises went, it wasn't the best.

She wasn't sure how to proceed with something like this. On the one hand, this was only a C-rank so it was likely whoever was hiding there wasn't after them. On the other, she didn't like getting closer to something that had the potential to kill her.

"Sensei?" She looked questioningly towards her commander. Whatever call he made, she'd have to follow through. At least she could trust that he would have to protect them if worse came to worse.

"What?" He replied, not even looking up from his book. Naome's attention was diverted to his hand, which appeared to be twitching like he was having a tiny spasm attack.

Her eyes widened in understanding. _Spring Trap._ Something she couldn't identify. _Mission Objective._ He wanted them to willingly spring an attack on whoever was waiting for them? Damn, she had to brush up on her Konoha signals! She still wasn't sure what the second one was! At least she understood the last one.

Their mission was to protect Tazuna, even though he was a stupid drunk and hiding something.

"Why are you always reading that little orange book?" She asked to cover up her first question. If the enemy was hiding literally under their noses, they might have a way to hear what was being said. No need to tip them off.

"Because I want to know how it ends." Kakashi eye smiled at her. She took that to mean he was glad she understood the sign.

She turned her attention back on the puddle, they were maybe five meters off from it. Casually, she started to _skip_ up behind Tazuna, presumably so she could talk to her fellow female.

"Ne Sakura, where do you buy your clothes?" Now, if someone knew Naome, they knew she absolutely detested shopping. She always wore her clothes until they weren't fit to be used for scrap material before she set foot in a clothes shop. Now, it stands to reason that her teammates would know this, which is why it put Sakura on guard.

"From Konoha Depo, why?" She asked suspiciously. Naome smiled and waved her fingers in an apparently so-so movement. Sakura's eyes lit up as she recognized Konoha code.

_Four meters, spring trap, and mission objective?_ She gulped and tried to hide any nervousness she felt. Their sensei had probably warned Naome and now Naome was warning her! Now she had to warn Sasuke-kun!

She took a second to sign _Acknowledged_ back at Naome before she stepped up a little to walk next to her crush. After relaying the message, she dropped back a little and let out a shaky breath. Only three meters left now.

The three genin casually changed their pattern until Naome was at point, Sakura to the right and farthest from the puddle, and Sasuke almost directly beside where it would be when they passed it. All surrounding their oblivious mission objective.

Kakashi eye smiled proudly at his cute little students. These three had been the best in the academy. Sasuke, rookie of the year. Naome, top kunoichi with several shinobi classes under her belt. Finally Sakura, the smartest and second kunoichi. He had a team of winners!

Two meters, the puddle was within spitting distance. One meter, everyone was ready. They were almost on top of it, nothing. The genin passed by harmlessly, not letting their guard down just yet. Then Kakashi stepped over the puddle.

"Sensei!" Naome cried when she heard the two nin jump from the puddle. A spiked chain wrapped around their wide eyed sensei.

"One down." The first missing nin monotoned. They pulled in sync and the chain cut through their sensei like he wasn't even there.

Naome's eyes widened and her body reacted on instinct when she saw them heading for her.

"Two Do-Ack!" Naome had absent mindedly palmed a shuriken, so they couldn't see it, and she plunged it deep into the first one's stomach. Her brain automatically assessed the wound she had caused. She had cut directly through stomach tissue, he would die within fifteen minutes.

She followed up before that fact fully registered, moving on to the second missing nin while the first fell. She ducked below their spiked chain and weaved around his enraged swipes of his claw. She kicked his shin and used her momentum to carry her under, causing him to fall flat on his face.

He wasn't a shinobi for nothing though and that little genin bitch had just taken down his brother! He caught himself mid fall and threw a brace of poisoned kunai at the girl. Naome was replaced with a log though, and the kunai didn't harm her at all.

With the distance, and implied safety, reality came crashing down. Naome felt the bile rising in her stomach but fought it down when the still enraged missing nin righted himself. She spammed four bunshins to gain a little breathing room and palmed one of her tags. Time for a field test.

She hesitated a moment before throwing the kunai and tag. This time she knew fully well what she was doing would probably kill somebody, but with the last of her dispelled bunshins, she threw.

In the academy they were taught to aim for vital points. The jounin taught you to aim for points that could disable, but their sensei hadn't taught them anything. They were taught that they would be asked to kill for their village, for the sake of their mission. They were dissensitized to this as much as possible, but classroom lectures weren't enough, and the sensei knew that.

They knew some kids wouldn't be able to cut it. The blood would haunt them, their first kills would become the monster under the bed, the bogey man in the closet. Some would break. Some would thrive though, and everyone always prayed that there wouldn't be too many of these. The ones who worked their best amongst the dead and dying.

Then there was those who found ways to cope. These would become succesful, would grow to become jounin. This was why jounin so often were so eccentric. They found something to help them cope and they clung to it. These became shinobi.

"Naome." She wasn't sure what category she fell in, but at the moment she didn't care. With the danger passed, and her sensei revealed to be alive, she felt it an appropriate time to empty the contents of her stomach.

Naome ran for the treeline and lost the remains of her breakfast. When she was done, she made the mistake of looking at her right hand, the one she used to gut the first nin. It was stained with blood.

The three best in the academy. The ones who had the potential to become the most effecient leaf shinobi. Kakashi looked at the handiwork of his blonde student and knew the assessment was correct.

He walked over to the first nin, who would take another fourteen minutes to die. He used a kunai to end his life quickly. She had been taught from age seven to aim for vital points, to inflict fatal wounds, but hitting a dummy and hitting a man were too different. They couldn't even be compared.

As things had turned out though, he wasn't sure who they had been after. Ninja attacking ninja? Or ninja attacking civilian guarded by ninja? He knew the answer, but he would have to bluff about the evidence.

First though, he had a student who had finished upheaving with a bloody hand.

"Naome, come on, we're leaving." It would probably be best to get out of the area of her kill.

Naome hesitantly followed, using her left hand to dig a scroll from a pocket inside her jacket. She unrolled it while they walked, until she came to the one she wanted. She pushed in a tiny amount of chakra and unsealed a few bottles of water. She wanted to wash her hand.

Sasuke watched out of the corner of his eye as Naome tried to scrub the blood from her hand. Getting it out of her clothes would be a lost cause, but she had shrugged off her jacket and tied it around her waist so the stain didn't show.

She had killed one shinobi, and fatally wounded the other, even though Kakashi had finished that one off, he still considered it her kill. She had _killed._ She had killed and reacted badly. _He_ had reacted badly and he had only watched!

His stomach was doing funny flops and his hands were clammy. The way Naome had moved in hadn't been like the normally upbeat blonde. She hadn't been thinking and reacted like she'd trained to. In the academy, they taught you to kill, jounin taught capture.

He had watched as her mind caught up with her body. She had made bunshins and readied an explosive tag, but she had hesitated. It wasn't the same as before, now she _knew_ what would happen when she threw that kunai. _He had known!_

Seeing suddenly the sudden end to life, he wondered why it had such an impact on him. He had been forced to watch his entire family be killed for three days! Over and over! Why did watching these two missing nin be killed by a teammate affect him so much?

'Because in all the idle dreams of your vengeance, you've never thought of the killing blow.' His mind supplied the answer. He clenched his eyes shut and forced himself to focus. Now wasn't the time to think about such things.

Sakura wasn't as subtle as Sasuke. She watched Naome like a hawk. To her Naome had looked a bit like the God of Shinobi himself. Not the kind, grandfather like old man who told speeches at the academy, but the kind in the bible. Fire and brimstone, what the hokage must have been like during the wars.

She was civilian, born and raised, but a kunoichi taught. She had good aim and she could kill a man twenty different ways with a shard of glass. She prided herself on memorizing every rule of shinobi and all the facts about the shinobi world she could get her hands on. She was the _smart_ one!

Still, she was a twelve year old girl in an adult's world. Naome had won her respect. Not be killing those two shinobi, not by her skills or jutsu, not by her rank. Naome won her respect by trying to wash away the blood on her hands.

Sakura swung her backpack so she could rummage through it until she found what she was looking for. It was special, shinobi grade soap. It was one of the only things garunteed to wash away blood and poison in their turbulent world.

When Kakashi let them stop in a nearby clearing, she walked over to Naome and gently washed the blood off her hands until the stains were gone, then she started on her jacket. She washed away the blood and gave Naome a quick hug.

Kakashi respectfully waited until Sakura was distracting Naome before he went for the bridge builder. He wanted straight answers.

"Tazuna-san, you need to explain why shinobi are after you and why my student was forced to kill in exchange for your life." Tazuna had been looking sick ever since Naome had killed the first nin. These child soldiers chilled his blood to the bone. For the first time he knew what a shinobi was, what they truly did, and it scared him.

"I-I'll tell you the truth." He took a deep breath and tried not to look at the kid who he forced to kill before starting his tale.

When all was said and done, he wasn't sure which choice he should make. His genin weren't ready for this, not at first glance. Naome hadn't said anything yet but she looked a little better now that Sakura was helping her clean up. He knew they would be up against more than the demon brothers next time.

"Sakura, you and Sasuke go and find a couple rabbits then start on some lunch. I'm going to talk to Naome, okay?" Sakura nodded wordlessly but shot him a _look_ he was familiar with. It was the same one Ran had given him when she had seen him right after Anko told him she was pregnant.

It was a look that said quite clearly _if-you-hurt-my-sister-I-will-__**hurt**__-you_. He nodded in understanding, despite the fact both women who had given him that look couldn't normally harm him. It was always safer just to smile and nod.

"Naome, how are you feeling?" He sat down next to her. She seemed to have settled down a little but there was a definite nervousness in her movements.

"It's not like they say in the academy." He actually had to strain to hear what she said.

"It's not." He agreed quietly. He wasn't sure how to do this. The memory of his own first kill was blury. He had been only five and all he remembered was crying in his father's arms after he got home. He hadn't really understood then.

"Did I-?" She cut herself off, unsure how to phrase her question.

"Should I have waited?" Waited for him to jump back out and save them. Well, he knew how to handle this at least.

"I don't think so. An important part of growing stronger is learning that you don't have to rely on the adults to save you all the time." He started slowly.

"We jounin sensei are here to guide you, motivate you, spring boards to push you to becoming chunin. We are given a bit of leeway when it comes to missions, we typically stand in the background while you figure it out yourselves how to do things." She nodded, it made sense in a way. This wasn't the typical mission though, this one had already gone screwy and she had a feeling they weren't through yet.

"There's a reason jounin are sensei for genin though, and not chunin." She looked up at him now. What was he trying to say?

"Not every jounin is chosen, only the strongest. Because we're meant to be strong enough to pick up the things when they shatter, then glue the pieces back together again. We make _new _jounin." She never thought of it like that. Kakashi was an elite jounin, next to him she wasn't even a threat. She never thought about how jounin were chosen to train genin.

"First kills are another reason that jounin become sensei." She couldn't help the flinch at the word kill.

"We can kill without batting an eye." She tried to see where this was going, but as far as she could make out it was going against the current! Against everything that they had learned in the academy. Was he saying it was _okay_ to kill?

"If you become a jounin, you will have to take a few lives. There's no helping it. Blood is a heavy burden though, and it takes a while to learn how to carry it." Naome waited for him to continue as she stretched out and looked up at the clouds. Cloud gazing was something she had become a master of after spending so long with Shikamaru. She learned that it helped clear her mind.

"Every jounin has a crutch, something we lean on to keep our sanity, however little of it may be left. Mine is my precious book and chronic lateness." Wait, he coped by being late? How did that work?

Kakashi chuckled when he saw her look but didn't elaborate. She'd understand one day, hopefully soon or this would weigh her down.

"...Are you encouraging me to read porn and be late to everything?" She asked curiously. Okay, she already read porn, but that was only a couple times! Besides, she liked the plots, not the smut!

"What? No!" Kakashi gaped. He almost tried to explain when he realized Naome was laughing. He guessed he should've realized sooner. She already had a coping mechanism, she only had to tweak it to fit the situation.

He idly wondered if all her smiles and laughter was a coping mechanism. He knew she had never been physically abused or neglected, but mentally and emotionally were another matter. He knew how much it could hurt to be ignored, but he hadn't lived through eleven years of it.

Naome's laugh died after a minute and she went back to watching the clouds fly by. She wondered if Shikamaru was looking at the same cloud at the same moment.

As they ate lunch, Kakashi filled them in on what was really going on. Naome felt her heart skip a few beats as Kakashi told them that a jounin was more than likely waiting for them. She felt a little better than before, at least not on the verge of a panic attack, but she still held a few doubts.

"We'll put continuing with the mission to a vote, those for raise your hand." Kakashi finished, waiting to see who would go for it.

Naome sighed and raised her hand. Sasuke followed suit. Sakura looked conflicted but she looked at Naome, then slowly raised her hand. Kakashi found it interesting that she hadn't look at Sasuke, but he considered it an improvement. Maybe this mission is exactly what the doctor ordered to knock some sense into her pinkette head.

"I can't thank you all enough." Tazuna looked and sounded like he was holding back tears. Knowing the situation, Naome could see why. She could understand it to, at least a little.

They continued travel, kicking up the pace just a bit. They wanted to be as close to the border as possible before nightfall. It would take two days to actually reach Nami, but they could make those two days pass as quickly as possible at least.

In the middle of the night, Naome jolted awake as two sets of memories filtered into her mind. The two prank bunshins didn't do a bad job of the stadium. The had gotten inside and then painted it to look like the inside of a forest, one training ground 44 actually! (Don't ask why she knows that forest, just don't ask!)

"Something wrong, Naome?" She eeped and met the eye of her sensei. He was on watch at the moment, she had dawn watch.

"Nothing sensei!" She answered in a tired sing song voice. The ANBU guards should really raise the standards though, she hadn't needed any prior planning to get in at all! Even though the traps had given her a little trouble, sticking to the walls had let her avoid them all.

"Hmm, okay." Kakashi shrugged. If she wanted to talk, she'd talk.

The next day around noon she got memories from both her Zoro bunshin and Ran bunshin. Zoro had told Shiho he was taking a mission cause he was low on cash and she had sent him off with her blessing, even though she had asked him to tell her all about it when he returned. That might be dicey later, she'd have to think about it.

The Ran bunshin though, had been a surprise.

_Ran's POV, Eight in the Morning._

Ran answered the door after the first ring and didn't even pause. She didn't know the genin, which was a blessing, but she didn't know the genin, which was a curse. She'd just have to make due with what she had though, just like always.

"Hello, I'm Kabuto Yakushi and these are my teammates Yoroi Akado and Misumi Tsurigi." The purple wearing genin said graciously. Something about the boy struck her as..._off._ The way he talked, in that humble but condescending tone, irked her. Still, his team had accepted her mission, she'd just have to hope for the best but prepare for the worst, as the saying went.

"Come on in, I'm Ran Yurichi and my son's name is Hikaru." No need to poor unneeded attention on his last name, just in case.

"You're leaving to attend your father's funeral and will reading, correct?" Yoroi questioned as he looked around. The place was _bright._ This woman obviously liked bright colors.

"Hai." Ran sighed, fiddling with a necklace she was wearing.

"Hikaru-chan, come here and meet the shinobi!" She called from the living room. Hikaru was playing in her bedroom, probably with the shogi board.

Hikaru came out slowly, he hadn't taken her news well, but he hadn't thrown any tantrums. He was being such a brave boy by doing this for her!

Ran noticed how Kabuto seemed a little surprised by her son's appearance and decided to try and explain some of it away. She wouldn't want him drawing conclusions on his own, even though he was just a genin.

"He somehow inherited my husband's and my hair color!" She laughed.

"Kaachan, miss you." Hikaru pouted. She knelt down and gave him a big hug, she would miss him too.

"I know, but I'll bring back a present for you, alright?" He sniffed and nodded. Ran smiled encouragingly at him before she turned back to the awkward genin, they looked a little uncomfortable around her.

"On the fridge is a list of things you'll have to know and do until I get back, including if you take him to the park or something. Money to pay for food and such is in my nightstand's top drawer." She informed them. Best to act polite and ignore their weird vibe for now.

_Kabuto's POV, Eight in the Morning._

A long term baby sitting mission wasn't his ideal way to spend his time, but it was something that provided him with a unique oppurtunity. A long term baby sitting mission was something he could use to sneak off and out of the village to meet with Orochimaru-sama.

That was the original intention at least. He hadn't been surprised or unnerved when Ran opened the door, but he had registered her perceptiveness. She had flicked over each of them without a single hitch, even he had almost missed it.

Then he saw her son. Hikaru was a strange boy to begin with. He had both blonde and red hair, but what caught Kabuto's attention were the whisker marks. He knew only one person who had whisker marks in Konoha, the resident jinchuriki who appeared to live on the third floor of the same building.

He had hidden his surprise perfectly, he was sure, but that woman had caught on and then purposely drawn his attention from the cheeks to his hair. The way she walked, like someone who knew where each part of their body was and only touched the ground because they willed it. This wasn't a harmless civilian, single stay-at-home mom, this was a deadly kunoichi.

He listened with only half an ear as she told them the things they had to know, he was busy trying to discern more. The paintings seemed important, and when she showed them where the money and emergency documents were, he made special note of the one with Naome Uzumaki in it.

This woman was a skilled actress, and if he hadn't been trained by Orochimaru-sama he would have shrugged away any mistakes in the facade as just coincidences. Her paintings were important, and he took note of the one with Kakashi Hatake and Anko Mitarashi respectively.

"Anko-nee will be dropping by regularly to check up on things." When he heard that he did a double take that he was sure she had noticed, despite his teammates being clueless. Anko lived in this apartment, and she would be around at least once every day, and if she was a ninja worth her salt it would be at changing times.

That would make sneaking off difficult as it would be suspicious for one member of the squad to be absent. It would also mean no experiments on Hikaru, no serious ones anyway. He couldn't help but wonder, had she arranged for this to happen?

The longer he stayed in her presence, the more he was certain she was a shinobi. Whether or not she was from Konoha though, he couldn't be sure. He could always ask, but he preferred to leave the head on approach as a last resort.

She was also leaving the village, and her son, for an undeterminned amount of time. If her listed reason of attending her father's funeral and will reading was true, she'd at least have a deadline to return. Something about this was off, and he suspected he knew what. The final piece of the puzzle had fallen into place.

"You are a kunoichi, and a good one, aren't you _Ran?_" He asked purposefully. Ran Yurichi was a spy from another village, integrating herself slowly and gathering whatever information she had come for. Judging from the paintings, she was almost sure it was on the jounin of the village and their jinchuriki.

"Kunoichi?" Ran repeated, the picture of innocent confusion, but now that he was looking he could see the fear and surprise. He could see how her hand harmlessly drifted over the obi of her kimono, where she no doubt was hiding a weapon. If he had guessed right, he guessed she was probably thinking of the best way to make them disappear.

"I'm not a kunoichi Kabuto-san." She answered evenly, seeming even a little amused that he had come to such a conclusion. To him it sounded more like _Careful boy or you might get hurt._ This was an offered out, he was sure. She was trying to let him out of this without giving up her cover and without killing anyone. He was dealing with someone who knew the human mind, no doubt about it.

"Look lady, if Kabuto says you are a kunoichi, and you say you aren't, I know who I'd bet on." Yoroi was always such a hothead. Kabuto would have to have _words_ with him later.

Ran turned her eyes on Yoroi and Kabuto got his answer. No civilian could make KI like that. KI was very strange and mysterious. It wasn't chakra, but it was just as unique. Each person had their own KI, and it took a different _feeling and effect_ depending on who was using it.

Orochimaru-sama's KI felt like _you were being murdered!_ Ran's though was alot more subtle, and just as dangerous in it's own way. Her KI felt like he was being looked at by something more powerful than he could dream _and oh Kami he wanted to throw up!_

Kabuto schooled his expression and watched his teammates' as they slowly calmed down. Misumi looked dangerously close to being sick. Putting himself in Ran's shoes, he'd say the only reason she had pulled back so soon was because she didn't want vomit on her carpet.

"I could kill two of you without having to draw a kunai, but Kabuto-san hides more than his looks say." Her tone was completely different from before. This was the same feeling he got from someone _dangerous_, someone who had the _potential_ to kill him. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but she would commit bloody murder until he was a paste on the ground if he didn't play this right.

"You're right about that, I am more than I appear." He said slowly, trying to see where the lines were. There were _always_ lines with these kinds of people, invisible lines that if you wanted to live _you did not cross!_

"Why aren't you threatening to go to the Hokage about me yet?" She asked him coyly. She had established who was in charge and she had control of the situation.

"Because I'm not completely loyal to Konoha either. I have a different master." Two actually, but who was counting?

Ran cocked her head to one side for an instant, seeming to dissect him beneath her steady blue gaze, before she turned her head to look at her son through his bedroom door. He was playing with some blocks and building a city.

"My real name is Nina, but call me Ran for now, I'd hate for you to slip up and cost me years of fun." Fun, not work. That meant she didn't work for just anyone, she worked for bidders. A missing nin who gave information on Konoha's elite and dangerous to whoever wanted it. This could be beneficial.

"To be so skilled in the art of deception, you must be powerful, why haven't I heard of you before?" He asked cautiously, still testing the waters. It was rare that someone could exist like Nina without anyone knowing, if that was her real name anyway.

"I find the greatest enjoyment in infiltration, playing the innocent civilian girl is my favorite past time, so why would I make myself famous? That would only make it harder to enjoy myself!" She laughed, a crazed look in her eyes. He couldn't quite place it but he recognized it all the same. That was the look Orochimaru had when an experiment failed and he was angry.

"I haven't even shown anyone my real face since I was six years old." It really _unnerved_ him to listen to this woman. She was like a female Orochimaru, only much more dangerous because at least Orochimaru-sama didn't make it a mystery if you pissed him off! If what he had discerned so far was true, then she could perfectly immitate just about anyone around her. That made her dangerous.

"So, who do you serve little coin?" Coin, a double sided object, how fitting. Although he was more like a die himself.

"We serve Orochimaru-sama." He waited for her reaction, he was disappointed. Nina's face became blank as any emotion seemed to vanish. He couldn't read her at all. He could only wait and see if she would speak.

"Hmm, the White Snake, Orochimaru of the sannin." Not many people called him the White Snake anymore, this seemed to imply that she was older than her current form suggested.

"...I doubt he would take anyone unless they were talented, knowing him he must have high standards. That speaks well for you Kabuto-san." He couldn't tell if that was a compliment or an insult, whether to him or Orochimaru-sama. A master of the double meaning indeed.

Nina sat down and took a drink of the tea she had offered them. He hadn't drunk any of his and now he wasn't going to, for all he knew it was poison. He was confident in his ability to distil whatever she might come up with, but not enough to wager his own life.

"That you've told me this much, are you after something perhaps?" She asked him jokingly. He wondered again if she had somehow arranged for this to happen. He wasn't in control of the situation at all and that bothered him. He needed a little control!

"You are close to some high ranking shinobi in this village, how about a little information?" He felt a little more confident that she wouldn't attack, he was willing to push the limits a little now. He had to if he wanted to gain the upper hand. Maybe he could offer something that she wanted?

"A girl has to eat Kabuto-kun, why not give me a little incentive?" She leaned back, the picture of leisure.

"Orochimaru-sama is the leader of a new hidden village, Otogakure, and he is always looking for new recruits. I'm sure he would even sweeten the deal with a sum of money." He stated a little more confidently. He felt he was getting closer to those lines, but something told him she was more patient than Orochimaru.

"I could be persuaded to part with a few pearls of wisdom for the right price." She acknowledged.

"If you would be so kind, could you perhaps provide a single day when Anko-san won't be around so that I might report to Orochimaru-sama?" He asked respectively. It was best to play his cards close to heart for now, until he had a bit more stable ground to stand on.

He could see a searching look in her eyes and he wondered what she was thinking. Would she agree? Did she even have that power over his master's discarded project?

"Anko-san won't be around on the thirteenth, that will be your window of oppurtunity." She gave no reason why she wouldn't be around, and he requested none. He felt like her fuse had suddenly shortened and he was just waiting for the boom. He needed to navigate this potential mine field carefully.

"Thank you, Ran-san." With that, Ran reappeared and she went to say one last goodbye to her 'son'. He wondered if he was really her son or if he was adopted or something.

Just as she was about to leave, she turned around and he again felt that KI, only this time it was focused on him rather than Yoroi.

"Kabuto-san, Hikaru-chan is very important to me, if anything happens to him, it's on your head." No emphasis, just a plainly pointed out fact, like it was an absent minded reminder to a child to behave themselves at school.

The door closed and he breathed a small sigh of relief. That had been nerve wracking, working in the dark like that, but it seemed to have paid off. He made a mental note to make sure Hikaru didn't get so much as a runny nose before he turned to his teammates.

"Keep the boy safe."

_Ran's POV, Ten in the Morning._

Having heard Kabuto's voice through the door, Ran smiled shakily before making her way to the nearest alley way. Once there, she nearly sobbed in relief that she hadn't been found out. She wondered what crazy conclusions that Kabuto guy was coming to in that messed up head of his!

That had taken all her skills and she was sure she had probably screwed up somewhere in there! She was just glad she had managed to assure her son's safety as much as possible, though she wondered at what price.

She vanished in a puff of smoke, and prayed things would turn out alright.

_Current Time, Road to Nami._

Naome went through the memories on the boat ride across the sea. She realized she had probably had a very blank face the entire time she went through the memories, but it didn't matter. What mattered was that everything was turning into one huge cluster fuck!

This was more than troublesome, more than any kind of trouble she had ever been in! This deserved a cuss of Red Light District porportions! This was a fucking shitty over-developed cumshot of a bitchy mother fucker!

What was worse, was that she was pretty sure this was only the beginning. From now on things were going to get troublesome, in the words of her best friend. Speaking of Shikamaru, she prayed that he'd be willing to help her when she got back to Konoha. With his big brain he might be her only hope to pull of everything.

Seeing the bridge, in all it's giant size, didn't really have as much as an impact as it normally would. The novelty of seeing new things had worn off after the first ten miles, and Naome couldn't think of anything but how she kind of wished she could just finish it all by jumping off of it. From that height hitting the water would be like hitting concrete.

"This is as far as I can take you." The rowman said sorrowfully. He had looked pretty nervous the entire trip but now he seemed reluctant to leave them there, in the middle of nowhere.

They thanked him and he cast off without his cargo, leaving them vulnerable in a place they knew nothing about, in a land full of water. Naome looked nervously back at the sea and remembered the kiri missing nin she had killed. Would the next one be from kiri as well? If so, they had an advantage.

They were halfway to Tazuna's house when the mist began rolling in. Naome looked long and hard at the mist. There had been no wind, but it had come on so quickly. This wasn't natural.

She nearly panicked when she heard a rustling in the bushes but it turned out to only be a rabbit. A white rabbit, weird in this climate. Normally you see those further up north.

"Everyone duck down!" She didn't think, just obeyed her sensei's order to kiss the dirt as something very big and _metal_ whirled overhead. She was certain that it had cut a few hairs, and years, off her head.

"Zabuza Momochi, the demon of the hidden mist." Oh, that was not a good thing. Naome took a second to reflect on how much of a _fucking cluster fuck_ everything about this mission had become! What next, was the Yondaime going to appear in a yellow flash to finish off the Kyuubi?

Naome wished she had some wood to knock on because she probably just jinxed herself.

"I'm honored, Sharingan Kakashi." Okay, now she was confused. She knew what the sharingan was, she was a teammate with Sasuke Uchiha she had to know! Why was Kakashi _Hatake_ connected to the sharingan in any way, shape, or form?

"Maa, I guess I'll need this." Kakashi drawled, lifting his hitaite up from it's crooked position. Naome instinctively knew what was under that makeshift eye patch, and she wondered how he got it.

"To see it so soon, I really am honored Hatake." Zabuza chuckled from his perch on his big ass sword. Naome wondered what kind of strength was needed to throw something like that so it spun over them, with enough force to potentially cut through them like butter to if that tree was any indication.

"Team, manji formation!" Kakashi bit out, his attention completely focused on the opponent in front of him. Naome joined her teammates, taking the right flank this time in the formation with Sasuke on point.

Killing Intent flooded the area and Naome instinctively tossed it off of them with her own KI. KI was something she had previously not known she could use. It wasn't until she saw Ichigo again that she realized she could use it, to great affect according to Anko-nee.

With the jounin KI being held at bay with her own, she forced herself to stay calm. She couldn't lose her head, her mind was her greatest asset and she might be needed at any time.

"Heheheh, looks like one of your genin is actually competent." Zabuza looked straight at her. He had been surprised when he felt his KI being pushed back by another's. When he realized the source of the third KI was the blonde girl, he had known she was different from the others.

"Naome is quite possibly the most unpredictable shinobi I've ever met." Kakashi muttered. He wondered if killing the missing nin had manufactered her KI. He was surprised by how potent it was, like someone smiling and reaching to shake you hand but a poisoned senbon up their sleeve. It fit the mysterious Uzumaki girl.

He could smell blood on this girl, but it was faint, washed away. He knew the Demon Brothers had been killed, but he smelled no blood on the jounin.

"So you are the one who killed those two nincompoops." He said directly to the girl. She looked like an ordinary genin, even down to the orange tanktop under her leather jacket, but she wasn't like the other two, this one felt almost like a threat. Almost.

"...Would it help to say it was an accident?" She really hoped he wouldn't go into a rage like the second missing nin. This guy was a jounin and she wasn't sure she could guard against him.

"...You have weird genin Hatake." Zabuza sighed lazily. Oh well, he should probably get this thing started before he lost what respect and fear he'd gained from the audience.

The mist deepened until it was difficult to see your hand in front of your face. Naome vainly tried to find their sensei and opponent through the mist but had to give it up as a lost cause. The only way she'd find them was if they wanted her to.

Still, she thought as she palmed two kunai in each hand in a reverse grip, if they were attacked she would be ready to fight.

His voice came from the mist, seemingly from every direction, listing eight vital sure kill sites of attack. For each one named, Naome knew she was as guarded as she was going to get. Short of spamming bunshins like nobody's business there wasn't a whole lot she could do to avoid being hit if he wanted to kill her.

When she felt him appear beside her, in the middle of their formation, she lunged. Zabuza had clearly been expecting some sort of hesitation but Naome felt none. She sliced first at the kidneys then once up through a lung before she realized that it was water, not blood, pouring from the wounds.

"Good job Naome." She heard from the mist, unmistakably her sensei.

Sasuke cursed himself for having to rely so heavily on his teammates for survival, at the same time he was glad he didn't have to help in the fight. This fight was out of his league and it felt like if he did anything more than _breathe_ he would be crushed by the warring entities around him.

Zabuza and Kakashi were enough in their own right, but Naome was pushing him over the edge and sending him spiralling down a deep abyss. The only reason he was as calm as he was, Naome's KI was keeping the jounin KI away and it wasn't focused on them. She was focusing it solely on Zabuza from what he could feel, even though it kept all the KI away.

Kakashi wasn't the only contender in this fight, Naome for all her orange loving craziness, was strong. Maybe not on the level of jounin, but enough to get them out alive if she tried with all her might and worked well with Kakashi.

He hated being so weak, but just this once it was okay. Because it was Naome who was standing beside him. He trusted her enough to watch his back and he understood her better than anyone else on this crazy team.

Sakura felt the two KI and the only thing that stopped her from crying was Naome's KI pushing the other two away. Naome's KI was strong too, but it didn't scare her. Strangely enough, surrounded by Naome's KI she felt safe. As though the KI were a shield against Zabuza, because Naome wouldn't let him get past her.

Unlike her, Naome was strong! What had she been doing all this time? Playing ninja and washing her hair! This. Wasn't. A. Game! This was the real world and she was nothing but an insect in front of nearly everyone here. She couldn't bring anything to the table, she was only in the way. She was a distraction Kakashi and Naome couldn't afford.

She had thought she was a competent kunoichi. She was second only to Naome in the academy. Even if she wasn't the best at taijutsu she made up for it in book smarts! But booksmarts didn't help in the field! Knowing the shinobi rules wasn't going to stop Zabuza from killing her if she wasn't careful!

Sakura knew she was close to panicking in the same way everyone knows the sky is blue. In the back of her mind, realized, acknowledged, then pushed away for more important things. Things like being splashed with water from a water bunshin that _Naome_ took out while she'd been _daydreaming!_

For the first time in her life, Sakura was afraid for her life. It wasn't a feeling she liked. Listening to her sensei's praise, she swore to herself, she'd never be this weak again!

Kakashi and Zabuza were matching eachother bunshin for bunshin when the tide of the battle seemed to spin. The mist cleared enough to see both jounin standing on the surface of the water for a second, before Kakashi fell below the surface. For the second time in as many days Naome screamed in fear for his life.

"Water Prison jutsu complete." Zabuza lifted an orb of water with one arm, and inside sat Kakashi. Naome wanted to believe it was another act. Another ploy of play dead and wait for his opponent to turn his back. Kakashi's wide eye vetoed that belief faster than she could slurp ramen after training.

"I'll kill the genin and bridge builder, then move on to you Hatake." Zabuza kindly told him. With a single hand he made a water bunshin and it slowly walked over to the genin, exerting more KI than Naome could fight off on her own.

"I have to warn you, Demon of the Mist," She said pointedly, stepping in front of her team and Tazuna. From this point out, she was going all in. She hoped her talent in gambling translated to this bet.

"Attacking my team will get you a one way ticket straight back to Hell where you belong." The cross sign was made and twenty bunshins appeared. Half used henged immediately and turned into fuma shuriken. The other half, including herself, picked up these shuriken and tossed them at Zabuza and his bunshin.

Zabuza had been surprised when the kid had made kage bunshins. He had been surprised when half of them turned into shuriken. He wasn't surprised when they were tossed half at him and half at the bunshin.

He grabbed the first shuriken and used it to deflect the others before it dispelled. He looked up at the girl, preparing to mock her and dishearten her to the way of the shinobi. It was only years of experience that forced him to remove his hand from the prison and dart to the side to avoid the wind blade he felt breeze past him.

Kakashi Hatake was pissed. He had let his guard down and it almost cost him his team for the second time in his life. Zabuza wasn't leaving this island alive! Like Naome had just stated, attacking his team earned Zabuza a one way ticket to Hell.

Naome watched from the bank as Kakashi used the sharingan to it's full potential. He copied every move, every thought, Zabuza made perfectly, but not just that, he _predicted_ it. Soon he outstripped Zabuza and used a Water Vortex jutsu to knock the missing nin back until he hit a tree, unable to move.

"Your future is death." Kakashi monotoned, readying a single kunai knife. He was just about to end it when an unknown party made themselves' known. Before Kakashi could do more than note his presence, two senbon found themselves deep in Zabuza's neck.

"I commend you for your skill, Hatake-san, but I'm afraid he's my prey." The masked nin stated.

After Kakashi confirmed the death, the masked nin was allowed to take Zabuza's body off somewhere to be taken apart on a cellular level. Kakashi covered his eye when he was sure they were alone and felt then the staggering loss of chakra. He was on the verge of chakra exhaustion.

If he had been stuck in that water bubble much longer, he'd no doubt have passed out already. As it were, he was in no shape to fight. It would be best to get to Tazuna-san's house as soon as possible, before anything _else_ happened.

They made it to Tazuna's house and he instructed Naome to make a perimeter using her bunshins before he konked out in the futon he'd been given by Tsunami-san. He was tired, the futon was soft, and he really didn't want to deal with the real world at the moment. He was too tired to read his book so his only option was sleep.

Naome did as she was told and made a dozen bunshins with orders to guard the house. After that though, she only wanted to crawl in a hole somewhere and wait for this mission to be over. Instead she made three more bunshins and sent them to explore the islands to find this Gato person's hideout. (And maybe a waterfall, what with all the water just lying around).

With that done, she felt more tired than she could ever remember feeling in her entire life. She sat on the couch in the living room and tried to work up the energy to do..._something._ She didn't want to just sit there in a stupor. There had to be something she could _do!_

"Sasuke, Sakura, come on. I figure there's a few things I can show you, so that we'll stand a better chance later on." She finally sighed. She'd teach them the tree walking excercise, and if they finished that, water walking.

To their credit, they followed without a word. Both were eager for training. Something they could do with their bodies to stop themselves from thinking tiring thoughts. Thoughts like if Gato would send more ninja or if that was all he had in his arsenal.

When she found a suitable place nearby, Naome explained the concept of tree walking. She showed them how it was done, explained the whole chakra amountage thing, then she let them have at it. Sakura had pretty good control, but tiny reserves, Naome decided the best way to help her would be by helping her build more chakra.

"Sakura, since you can do tree walking, let's see you do tree _fighting._" She suggested. Tree fighting was alot harder, but the same basic principle. Sparring on a vertical surface was no simple feat for sure.

Naome made a bunshin and instructed Sakura to dodge without touching the ground. Her bunshin held back a bit, but whenever Sakura seemed to get the hang of it, she sped up. It was the only way she would improve!

Sasuke was still trudging slowly up the tree, but after his original momentum ran out he didn't make a whole lot of progress. She could see the problem though and she stood up to fix it.

"Sasuke, you need to channel the chakra in your feet, not direct it there. There's a difference." She called over to him, putting up a knowing smile when he turned to face her. If he didn't take her advice that wasn't her problem, watching him fall was entertaining in it's own way.

Eventually Naome began her own excercises, summoning a few bunshins to spar against. She didn't want to exhaust herself further, but mostly that tiredness was mental. She still had enough chakra to keep going for the rest of the day like this.

Something told her it was going to be a looong day.

The next day their sensei woke up with a good part of his chakra restored. Naome told him that she had figured out that Gato's base was on the southern side of the island. He was rather impressed about that and asked what they had been doing while he was out of it. She explained about teaching Sasuke and Sakura tree walking and how Sakura was trying her hand at tree fighting.

"Hmm, you have been busy bees." Kakashi yawned, still feeling a bit groggy after his nap. He wanted to go back to sleep but something kept bothering him. Something about yesterday's battle put him on edge, he felt like he was expecting an attack at any moment.

He went over the battle, trying to see what he had missed the first time around. He had just been about to end Zabuza's life when a Hunter nin appeared. He had confirmed the kill and the Hunter nin took the body away-!

"Shit." He normally didn't cuss but the situation demanded it.

"What's wrong sensei?" Sakura asked him worriedly. She was taking a break from training since she had nearly exhausted all her chakra.

"Get the others, this is important." He ordered stiffly. He should've seen it right away! Being off the ANBU task force for so long had dulled his skills. He'd have to meet up with Yugao back in Konoha to get in shape again.

"You rang sensei?" Naome greeted him as she and Sasuke entered behind Sakura. He idly wondered if this was the real Naome or a bunshin but pushed it from his mind for now. It was the same difference anyhow.

"Zabuza's alive." He reported. Of course he was met with varying degrees of disbelief and he couldn't blame them. After yesterday's fight they no doubt had been hoping for a break from this crazy mission. He hated to be the bearer of bad news, but he had little choice.

"Senbon aren't typically killing weapons, and he took the body with him. Hunter nin are supposed to get rid of the body on the sight of the kill." He could see the dawning worry in their eyes but he could do little to ease their minds. He wasn't at one hundred percent yet, but a fake death meant neither was Zabuza.

"On the up side, we have maybe a week to prepare." Sasuke seemed to be taking it the best, probably feeling he hadn't done enough in the last fight. Sakura looked like someone had just announced a mandatory uniform of dull grey and a buzzcut. Naome kept her face carefully blank but he was skilled enough to see the 'oh shit' in her eyes.

Naome groaned aloud as soon as she was alone. Sure, it wasn't the Yellow Flash coming to life, but this was pretty bad too. The only _good_ thing about this mission was that she had found a waterfall!

"If I make it back to the village alive, I'll gladly do D-ranks for the rest of my life without complaint!" She tried to bargain with whatever gods were up there. She highly doubted they'd make a deal with her though. after all they'd been trying to screw her over from day one!

Eventually she dragged herself off the roof of Tazuna's home and headed to where she remembered the waterfall to be. She was going to cut that waterfall before week's end or so help her she'd snap!

Cutting a waterfall is infinitely harder than cutting a leaf. When cutting a leaf, the feeling of the chakra is more like a delicate knife. It wasn't very strong but it did well for the little details, which was why she was able to carve things into wood but not cut through a tree.

Naome quickly discovered that a delicate knife just wasn't going to cut it here. Literally in fact. At first she tried just using more chakra, butt loads more, but all that did was tire her out. After her bunshins had popped she sat down on the bank and lay in the Sun while she waited to dry enough to put on a shirt.

Yep, Naome Uzumaki was wearing little more than a bathing suit, a baby blue bikini leaving nothing to the imagination! Back in Konoha, Shikamaru felt vastly disappointed over not seeing something, but he had no idea what.

"Glad to see you're enjoying yourself." Naome eeped and hopped up, reaching for her weapons and drawing a kunai before she realized it was just Kakashi.

"Don't do that!" She cried, relaxing a little. She wouldn't go back to lying down though, after all Kakashi was a blatant pervert if his reading habits were anything to go by. She may need to defend herself from Anko's boytoy.

"What are you doing here?" He asked in faux curiosity. He had been watching her for some time actually but he had no idea how to breach the subject of her mysterious knowledge.

"Not like it's a secret." Naome muttered before ringing out her sopping hair. Besides, he might be able to give her a few tips to finishing this training.

"I'm trying to cut a waterfall." She deadpanned, as though he really should've figured it out for himself before then.

"Hmm, I might help you if you help me!" He giggled. Grown men, especially grown _shinobi_ men, should not giggle.

"What do you need help with?" She asked suspiciously. She was a prepubecent girl wearing nothing but a bikini, she was allowed to be a little suspicious of a known's pervert's motives for helping her.

"I just want to know where you're learning chunin level skills." He said innocently, raising his hand in a warded off gesture. His spare eye still hadn't left his book, and if Naome looked closely, she could see it skimming over the page.

"Really?" She was a little surprised he hadn't just outright asked her. It was just a few jutsu and a little element manipulation. It wasn't some soul shattering secret like the Kyuubi, and he already knew about that one!

"But first I need to ask you a question and you need to answer honestly." He wasn't sure what she wanted to know but he doubted it was anything too sensitive. So he agreed without knowing the terms at all.

"What are you going to do about Anko and her baby?" Cue Kakashi falling from his perch in a tree. Of all the questions she could have asked, even one about the Kyuubi, she asked about his lovelife? She shouldn't even know about that!

"How do you?" He couldn't finish the question, he just stared owlishly at his most _unpredictable_ student!

"Answer!" Naome prodded, going so far as to poke his hitaite. He took a split second to note she was still in only a bikini and that her form was developing early before he mentally slapped himself. He could almost feel his sensei's glaring down at him from on high!

"I'm going to ask her if she'll marry me." They hadn't been dating long by civilian standards, but more than long enough in the shinobi world. Life was too short and insane to waste time on long relationships.

"Kay, then have I got some news for you!" She needed advice about Kabuto anyway and Kakashi was the only one avaliable. She needed to get this off her chest before it tore her inside out and started to burn down her village.

"It all started on my tenth birthday, when my apartment was burning down." She began. This was going to be a long, but hopefully profitable day.

To his credit, he only interrupted twice for clarification, once to ask the exact description of the rapist, and another time to confirm that Kabuto and his teammates were spies for Orochimaru. When she finished explaining how Ran came to be, her fear of Hikaru being taken away, Zoro's creation, and meeting many high ranked shinobi, it was almost time for dinner.

When she was finished, Kakashi pondered everything he had just been told seriously. The civilian woman Anko was so close to was actually Naome, Hikaru was the child of rape on Naome, and _Asuma_ was the one teaching his student elemental manipulation!

He forced himself to push that away for the most urgent matter at hand though. Kabuto Yakushi was a strange boy. He had graduated at ten but then seemed to hit a brick wall in his career. He kept taking the chunin exam but always dropped out after the second test. He had always been suspicious, but Kakashi never thought he'd be a mole for Orochimaru.

This had to be handled with the utmost secrecy, and as much as he hated to put her in any more danger after the last couple days she'd had, Naome was going to play a big part in drawing him out. The spy you don't see is crippling, but a visible one was a blessing.

Naome dressed and they tree hopped to Tazuna's house, where they could smell the heavenly aroma of freshly cooked food. Both were more hungry than they cared to admit and they may have sped up a bit into a sprint when the scent hit their nostrils. They may have.

The meal was just winding down, people starting to feel full but continuing to eat because there was still food on the table. Naome felt better with that weight off her chest so she let herself relax and unwind a bit. In retrospect, she should've known the Gods had more in store for her.

"Why don't you just give up?" The blonde paused with a piece of meat half way to her mouth as she swiveled her head to look at the little boy sitting beside her.

"Pardon?" She couldn't have heard right, could she? That seemed to only anger the boy though, and he stood so fast his chair toppled behind him, landing with a clatter on the floor.

"If you keep trying to fight Gato you'll all be killed! You come in here all happy and stuff and poking your nose in where it doesn't belond! You don't know how we have suffered!" He shouted directly at her. Naome suddenly didn't feel like eating.

"Ne, Inari-chan, who is the woman sitting across from you?" She asked, trying to keep the bite out of her voice.

"My mom, why?" He obviously thought she was trying to trick him.

"The man at the head of the table?" She asked next, lowering the rice and meat she'd been about to eat. She wasn't hungry anymore.

"My grandpa. Now why are you asking? Are you stupid?" He asked her, positively growling now.

"A mom and a grandpa eh? What are you whining about then?" This time she was the one who stood from the table. She was trying very hard not to let loose a ton of KI on the shrimp.

"You've never had to work a day in your life, you've always come home to a warm meal and smiling faces! You say we should give up, that if we don't leave we'll die?" He nodded hesitantly, he could sense her anger though she was sure none of it showed in her voice if not her body language.

"Well if we _do_ leave, who do you think will die?" She knew he got it when he glanced at his grandpa then down at his shoes. She could see tear drops falling now and for an instant, it wasn't Inari but Hikaru standing there. All her anger seemed to drain away and she knelt down to be eye level with the kid.

"A word of advice Inari-chan, if there are monsters, the hero isn't far behind." She told him softly before standing up and thanking Tsunami for the meal. She left before she did anything more to embarass herself. She needed to come up with a battle plan.

The week passed by too fast for her liking. Kakashi stayed true to his word and told her that using chakra to cut a leaf was one thing, using _wind_ chakra was another. She could make her chakra cut, but it wasn't wind yet! Once he had showed her how to change her chakra into wind chakra, she had started to see a little progress with each new batch of bunshins.

Sasuke finished tree walking a day early and he rested for the last one. He looked like he wanted to argue at that until Kakashi had told him if he did anything more than sit there and look pretty (His words, not mine) then he would be no help in the battle. That seemed to soothe his ego at least.

Sakura finished tree fighting, able to dodge any level of punches from a bunshin without touching the ground. She had worked hard too. Naome was proud of her and couldn't help but wonder if she was watching the death of a fangirl.

The day of the match up arrived and they headed to the bridge together. Naome left half a dozen bunshins with Tsunami and Inari, in case somebody got a bright idea, and left with her team.

The bridge was silent. Rather than the usual clammer of hammers pounding and saws sawing, there was a dead silence. Kakashi saw the unconcious men first and Naome had some bunshins move them out of the way. If the fight was coming she didn't want to worry about innocents.

"Kakashi Hatake, a pleasure to see you again." Zabuza appeared in a swirl of _water_ with his companion, a boy wearing a mask not a few years older than they were.

"So your hunter friend has decided to join the battle, ne?" Kakashi drawled, looking for all the world like he was discussing kunai prices rather than betting the lives of him and his students.

"Haku is more than powerful enough to handle that blonde troublemaker." The missing nin taunted, obviously probing for a weakness. Naome looked at her opponent and tried to figure out how he might fight. He was built like she imagined Shikamaru might look in a few years, if he grew out his hair, built for speed rather than strength.

"What do you think the odds are Naome?" Kakashi asked jokingly. Oh he knew about her insane luck with bets, how could he not? So if he was trying to tempt fate who could blame him?

"I'm not primarily a speed fighter but his senbon won't do much damage with my healing factor." Ah, enhanced healing what would she do without you? Unless he hit a vital spot she wouldn't be hindered too much.

"His ninjutsu is unknown but I'd hazard a guess it has to do with this chill in the air." She finished, bluffing on her observations mostly but she knew she hit the mark when Haku's fingers twitched. That mask made him harder to read, but she could make do, she had to!

"Show off." Zabuza muttered through his bandages. Though he would privately admit to himself the girl had talent if she was able to figure all that out with a look. The fight was on.

**End of this chapter mwuhahaha! you must now wait for me to update to see what happens!**

Naruto; She's holding the next update hostage!

Sasuke; We just recieved a ransom, she wanted to reach a hundred reviews for this fic!

Naruto; A hundred reviews? Is she insane! That is the equivalent of five dollars!

Sasuke; She's very serious, look she wrote it in red ink!

Naruto; *Gulp* You heard the emo folks! Hurry and review or poor little Update may never see the light of day again!


	5. Danger

Naruto; Ladies and gentlemen we are pleased to report Update has been saved!

Sasuke; LC got bored and decided to start the next chapter.

Naruto; She said 85 reviews was close enough!

LC; Yes, I did! So I decided to graciously let you readers see the new chappy!

Naruto; So Update was saved! Hurrah!

LC; Now, I must blindfold myself and start randomly pushing buttons!

Sasuke; I thought you were going to write the chapter?

LC; I am.

Sasuke;...Blindfolded?

LC; I'm all that and a bag of chips!

Disclaimer; I do not own Naruto! He is not mine! His child is though, and I will not let you have Hikaru-chan!

Chapter 5; Friday the Thirteenth.

Naome darted forward and to the side a little as she drew Haku away from his target. The more distance the better, but she'd have to be careful not to catch the others in the cross fire of her jutsu. She needed distance, and time to plan and hope this guy underestimated her.

A vision of her smiling baby boy as she last saw him, building a little city of blocks, flashed through her mind. A steely hand gripped her heart and she knew she couldn't afford to lose here today. Because if she did then she would be leaving that one year old boy to face the world without her, the kaa-chan he still needed.

"Sorry about this, but I'm not holding back." She muttered apologetically in advance. She'd probably have more blood on her hands by the end of the day, but maybe it would be worth it, for that little whiskered boy waiting at home.

"I am sorry also." Haku said, facing her now on the other side of the bridge, well away from everyone else.

"This shinobi way is difficult for me, but to protect my master Zabuza-sama's dream, I will become his tool and kill my heart." He said seriously, drawing some senbon. Naome flashed through handsigns and when she threw, she realeased a great Breakthrough.

Haku dodged the senbon that were sent flying back at him and he flashed through some one handed signs. Naome knew she had to somehow tie up both his hands but doing so was looking a little complicated.

Naome threw up a kage bunshin to act as a human shield against the ice senbon. The bunshin popped and they fell to the ground, and she figured out why there was a chill in the air. Haku used ice ninjutsu, and to great extent it seemed to have the skill to make senbon!

"You are at a disadvantage." Haku pointed out. Naome gulped because she knew he was right and at this point keeping up her poker face was too much on top of everything. They were surrounded by water that could be used to make ice, so yeah, pretty big disadvantage. She'd just have to make do though, just like always.

"Listen, I've got someone waiting for me back home, and hell if I'm leaving him alone any longer than absolutely necessary!" She barked, feeling the tension cut her like a knife. Her KI had been released but this guy's KI made her cold to the very bone. She felt like she was stuck in a snow storm, pointlessly looking for a break in the clouds.

She burst forward, using her chakra as a spring board for that extra speed boost. Haku caught her fist but like with that chunin, she had hidden a shuriken in the palm of her hand where it couldn't easily be seen. She'd have to come up with a name for that particular maneuver, especially if she used it often.

Haku gasped in pain as his hand was cut into by the shuriken but he forced himself not to let down his guard. He hadn't been expecting that, but he made up for that now by taking a senbon with his free hand. He'd pay her back as hard as she gave.

Naome had been watching his other hand, cautious of hand signs, so when he grabbed the senbon she took out a kunai. Here was where her secret weapon came in handy. The reason she had kunai pouches on both legs was because she was ambidexterous, and coupled with her newest ability to add wind chakra to her blades, this was deadly.

Haku found this out when his senbon was cut in half and he was forced to jump back to avoid being gutted like a fish. This genin was unpredictable and dangerous, just as Zabuza-sama had warned. He'd need to use _that_ jutsu!

"Demonic Crystal Ice Mirrors!" He shouted, using his one good hand to form the signs that would decide the end of this match. He would have to finish her off quickly, although he hated having blood on his hands. Especially the blood of someone who, in another life, may have been a good friend.

Naome could only watch as she was encircled by large mirrors on all sides but below her. Even that was coated with a fine frost. Good thing she brought her jacket or she'd catch her death of cold! Joking aside though, when she saw Haku melt into one of the mirrors and then appear in all of them, she felt a little like being in a blizzard. She couldn't see the way out.

"This just got harder." She mumbled ruefully, cursing herself for letting this happen. She should be better than this! She was going to be hokage one day! No way was she dying here!

"SASUKE!" She screamed loudly, hoping that her teammate could hear her. He could use fireball jutsu to melt the mirrors from the outside, and she would need help getting rid of these.

"Naome!" She heard to her left, back to where her teammates were. It sounded like Sasuke was on his way.

"Melt the mirrors from the outside!" She ordered loudly, and on the move. Haku wasn't content to just let her plot her escape in peace, he had to go and start throwing senbon at her from every angle.

Her leather jacket absorbed some of the blow, but leather wasn't the most suited for armor. Her jacket wasn't thick enough to stop them from piercing her, just from hitting anything vital. Naome remembered Zabuza during their last fight and a hand reached up to the knot of her hitaite, given by Iruka-sensei the day she graduated from the academy.

She quickly pulled it down to her neck and turned it backwards. At least this way she was safe from any sneak attacks there.

A heat burst forth from her left and she could see the flames. Water dripped from the mirror and she hurredly began a wind jutsu. Wind plus fire, equaled a really big boom. A big boom was just what the doctor ordered!

Haku could see what was going to happen, so he prevented it. He darted out of his mirror and grabbed the Uchiha boy before tossing him inside the cage. On the inside he'd have no chance to melt the mirrors.

Naome jumped and caught her teammate at the apex of his fall, granting him a softer landing. She grunted at being squished between him and the ground but put it behind her. She wasn't badly hurt, she still needed to fight, and that had become just a bit harder than before.

Still, if she wanted anyone at her back, it was Sasuke Uchiha, the only guy she could never decidedly beat in a taijutsu match. She helped him up quickly and set her back against his as they both fended off the attack.

"Kind of you to drop in!" She panted, feeling a little winded from the fall.

"It was a heat of the moment thing." Sasuke choked back. He had been surprised when that masked nin had grabbed him and could admit he should've been on guard. He'd do better next time, and there would be a next time!

Naome spammed some bunshins to buy them some breathing room and she dragged Sasuke down to a crouch for a mini war meeting. Kage bunshin, best fucking jutsu in all of creation. She really needed to thank Shibi Aburame.

"Sasuke, our only hope is getting the heck out of here. When I bring forth a new batch of bunshins, make a break for it." She ordered him before they were forced to jump back into the brawl. Sasuke barely had time to nod his assent before he was trying to deflect as many senbon as he could.

They both kept getting hit, but these were just small cuts and puncture wounds so far. Naome frowned at that. Haku was playing with them? Hopefully she could use that to her advantage. Soon, because if she waited much longer they'd come out looking like porcupines.

"Multi Kage bunshin jutsu!" She called out, her hands in a cross as soon as the attack lulled a bit. She was forced to take two senbon in the shoulder but it was worth it when upwards of twenty bunshins poofed into existence.

She and Sasuke were already moving to opposite ends, using the bunshins as shields as much as possible and relying on Haku being too distracted to notice. When Naome was forced to stop or be killed by a brace of senbon, she knew it hadn't worked.

"Are you okay Sasuke?" She asked the winded boy. This time she hadn't been able to catch him and he'd hit the ground pretty hard. Didn't sound like he broke anything though, which was a plus for them.

Sasuke nodded and forced himself to stand up. Something strange had happened with all the bunshins running around and trying to attack the mirrors. He'd seen a blur going to and fro between the mirrors, popping the bunshins and tossing them both back. He'd almost _seen._

"Naome, how many times can you do that?" He asked, watching her make ten more bunshins to take the senbon heading their way.

"Haven't found a limit yet but I'll let you know!" That was encouraging and he told her to keep making bunshins. Naome, to her credit, didn't question it. If he had a plan that was better than she had. She had been planning to turn this into a battle of attrition since she was sure the mirrors took a lot of chakra to hold up.

She felt searing heat as another fireball roared to life and she wondered what Sasuke was playing at. Didn't they already try the melting thing earlier? She didn't have the time or energy to try and dissect his motives though, she could only keep making bunshins and hoping that he wasn't just blowing hot air.

Sasuke blinked and felt an itching at his eyes but didn't stop to scratch them. He could almost see it now, that blur was becoming clearer. The longer and harder he stared, the more he could see Haku stabbing each bunshin individually! He could see it!

He blew another fireball, his third and more than likely his last one before chakra exhaustion, and felt some pride when he saw he had singed the pants leg. He needed to do better though, he wasn't yet strong enough! He had to get stronger if he was going to defeat _him!_

He heard a cry of surprise behind him and saw Naome falling. This one didn't go poof though and he could see the senbon falling, almost in slow motion. He wasn't thinking, he just _moved_. Moved because he couldn't bear seeing anyone else close to him die, and Naome counted.

He felt them pierce his body, he hadn't had enough time to deflect them. He was standing over her and he could see her mouth hanging open and her eyes growing wide as she realized what he had just done.

"You look...like...such a loser." He chuckled humorlessly. Darkness was waiting on the edge of his vision but he forced himself to stay awake a little longer. Just a bit longer.

He found himself laying in her arms without a memory of falling but that didn't matter. She was screaming at him to stay awake but his body was already going numb. If this is what it was to die, he felt it wasn't so bad. He expected more pain.

"I don't...want to die...here. I still...need to kill him...my brother." He whispered, scared despite himself. He would need to face the family he had failed so long ago. The one that had been slaughtered by _that man!_

"Well you're not getting your revenge by dying!" Naome shouted desperately. She knew the Uchiha Massacre, how could she not? She knew that the young genius, a then thirteen Itachi Uchiha, had done the deed. She remembered seeing Sasuke a week later and thinking that he was alone then, just like her.

At a naive seven years old, she thought that could be the basis of a friendship. She had tried to approach him once, just to tell him she wanted to be his friend, but had chickened out at the last minute. Because he wasn't alone, not really. He carried the dead on his shoulders so obviously she felt as though sometimes he could hear his dead family. She thought maybe that was what drove him on.

Now with his eyes already closed and body limp, she wondered where the ghosts were now. Greeting him in the afterlife perhaps? She hoped so, he deserved a chance with his family.

Then the reality of the situation hit and all she could think was how it was because of _him!_ That blasted _**no good masked nin killed Sasuke!**_ A blood red fire was coursing through her veins and her vision tinted red, she stood up and looked straight at the mirror she **knew** held Haku.

"Is this the first time you've seen a comrade die in battle? He died a shinobi's death." He wasn't helping his case. He couldn't dig a deeper hole at that point if he'd been handed a shovel.

"**I'll kill you!"** Naome roared, feeling that red power burst through her body. A rage was overtaking her body and all she wanted, all she needed, was his body lying broken at her feet!

Haku gasped when he felt the change. Suddenly it wasn't a genin, not even a full fledged kunoichi, standing before him. People called Zabuza-sama a demon, but this was the true monster. He felt unclean just standing near it! The girl was gone, Naome had been replaced by this power pouring from her body in waves.

He made the decision to kill her and fell from the top mirror with a senbon in his only good hand. He needed to end this before that foul chakra did something. He couldn't let Zabuza-sama's dream die!

Naome sensed an attack coming and she spun out of the way, before she darted forward faster than Haku could see. All Haku knew was a blinding pain in his face as his mask was shattered and he was pushed through one of his mirrors. He toppled feet over head for a second before regaining his footing and he saw a truly horrifying sight.

He hadn't been able to see the full extent of her changes before but his eyes were clear now. She had claws on her hand and her hair was pulsing with that foul chakra. Her whisker marks were darker and she was snarling, showing off a pair of pearly canines that seemed capable of ripping out his throat. The most terrifying difference were her eyes, where once they were calm and calculating, with a hint of a laugh always hidden by the surface, now they were a deep red that shone with an _intent._

Naome growled and ran forward, her arm pulled back in a punch as she neared her **prey!** She put all her strength, all her weight into his punch, ready to end the fight in one decisive blow. She froze in place when she met his eyes.

Lonely eyes with a coldness that felt strangely warm. She remembered seeing those eyes everyday before the birth of her son, before Shikamaru and Anko-nee. Before life suddenly became something precious. These were the eyes of someone who knew what it was like, to be unnecessary.

"Why don't you strike me?" She heard him coming from a long way, like she was trapped in a red tinted fog. It helped her focus and pull herself from that sadistic taint.

"Your eyes." She said simply, she almost felt like laughing. Here she was, a teammate dead and sensei no doubt fighting for his life and she refused to kill her oponent just because he had lonely eyes? This was the point where she turned in her hitaite and signed into the loony bin.

"I see, you no the Hell of being alone." Haku said quietly. Her eyes were normal again, and this time he could see what she saw. Someone lost in a world that didn't care if they lived or died.

"Naome-san, please kill me." Her heart froze in her chest and she looked at the ice weilding boy like he'd grown a second head. Why did he want her to kill him? Shouldn't he be taking advantage of her weakness right about now?

"I have failed my master, I am a broken tool, I'm no longer necessary." He attempted to explain, only confusing her more. Before he knew what he was doing, he was telling the blonde konoha kunoichi about his life. Everything, from his mother being killed to being found by Zabuza-sama. When he finished, he felt emotionally exhausted.

"So please, Naome-san, kill me." He pleaded. He was too weak to do it himself, his hands were already shaking and he knew it would be hard to resist blocking or dodging the killing blow.

Naome bowed her head for a minute as her right hand took a kunai from her right pouch. If that was his only wish, she'd have to do so. She wasn't cruel enough to let him live alone again, but at the same time she hesitated. Before she had killed in hot blood, the heat of the moment. This time her blood ran cool and it scared her that she was going through with this.

She burst forward with a chakra powered leap but rather than the blade, she slammed the butt of the kunai against Haku's temple. If he was going to die today, it wouldn't be by her hands. She had more than enough blood for a life time already. She couldn't face her son if she killed this boy.

Haku crumpled to the ground and she spared a few seconds to tie him up before she realized the mist had begun to clear. Her head shot up and she turned to where she could see Zabuza and her sensei still duking it out, straight taijutsu for the moment.

She wasn't really thinking too clearly when she approached the A-rank vs A-rank battle. Otherwise she might have turned and run in the opposite direction. As it were, she later decided it was the best decision she had made all day.

She was throwing the stray kunai and shruiken at the battle, usually to get some breathing room for her sensei. Kakashi was reaching for a scroll in one of his breast pockets when she realized they were no longer alone.

There was the sound of clapping and every shinobi on the bridge seemed to freeze in place like a game of red light green light. As one the four remaining ninjas turned to the edge of the bridge, where from a large merchant ship several bandits and a midget wearing a suit had disembarked.

"Some demon, more like a baby to my eyes Zabuza!" The midget laughed. Naome wondered where a midget got the bright idea to antagonize an A-ranked missing nin when he wasn't seriously wounded. Who was he anyway?

"What are you doing here Gato?" Huh, when did he lose his mouth bandages? She hadn't even noticed until now, talk about tunnel vision.

"Well you see, things have changed. I no longer intend to pay you." This was Gato of Gato corporations? The great shipping magnate? A midget in a suit? Naome could honestly say she'd been expecting something _more._

"I find that a few well placed thugs can easily take down a shinobi, much cheaper as well." Was Gato blind? Couldn't he see Zabuza was barely injured and that there were three other shinobi standing on the bridge? Sakura counted too, even though she was meant to stick with Tazuna to protect him she could still throw kunai in a straight line so those bandits could be picked off.

"Big mistake Gato." Zabuza _growled._ For a second, Naome could understand why he was called a demon. She sure wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley!

"I guess our fight is over Hatake." He said, sounding somewhat disappointed that he couldn't keep fighting the legendary copy cat nin.

"I suppose it is." Kakashi agreed. He didn't seem too bent out of shape. The shinobi motto, easy come easy go, came to mind. Naome wondered if he ever got upset about anything. Maybe if he lost that precious orange book of his he'd start to cry?

In the blink of an eye Zabuza was in the midst of the thugs and tearing through them with his sword like they were wet tissue paper. Naome lost track of him when he moved, only seeing spraying blood and dismembered body parts leaving a trail of destruction in his wake.

"Wait, no! I'll pay you, I swear!" Gato pleaded. He was the only one left standing and Zabuza was slowly making his way towards him. There was no where for him to run, no way to hide. His only hope, the leaf shinobi.

"I'll open trade to Konoha! Give them as much money as they want!" He tried pleading first with Naome and then Kakashi. He was desperate, and desperate men did stupid things. He began to run towards his ship, shouting for someone on board to cast off.

Zabuza didn't let him get four steps, and before Naome could shut her eyes she glimpsed a still screaming head being seperated from a tiny body. She couldn't say she regretted his death, but she didn't think she could stomach so much death in one day.

"Oi, gaki, did you kill Haku?" Naome opened her eyes gingerly, aware of the corpses so close she could almost taste the blood. Zabuza was standing a way's off, and Kakashi-sensei stood between him and her, a shield against the demon.

"No, he's unconcious." She answered. She hadn't been able to kill him, and boy was she glad. The look in Zabuza's eyes told her all she needed to know. If Zabuza had ever thought of Haku as a tool, then that had been the day they met and only then. That look was the same in her's when she thought about whether or not Hikaru was safe with Kabuto.

"Hmm..." Zabuza didn't outwardly give the impression of being relieved, none that she could see anyway, but his KI vanished as though it had never been.

"Naome?" The blonde eeped and turned around to see Sakura and Tazuna standing on the opposite side of the bridge. The mist had cleared completely now.

"Where's Sasuke-kun?" The pinkette asked her. Naome remembered the limp body she had left in the ice prison and turned to where the fragments were starting to melt. She could just barely see him lying there, right where she left him and riddled with senbon.

Sakura looked to where Naome was facing and she and Tazuna began to run. Naome did too, if only because she couldn't stand being still. Besides, if her teammate was dead, she couldn't let Sakura be alone at a time like this.

As it turned out though, Sasuke was breathing. When Naome grew close enough to see the rise and fall of his chest tears pricked and escaped her eyes. She was laughing and sobbing but she didn't care at all. Sasuke was alive!

He woke up with Sakura hugging him close and Naome standing over them. Both girls were smiling at him and he took that as a sign everything was fine before he passed out again.

_Later, Tazuna's House, Spare Bedroom._

"Hatake, I need to ask a favor of you and that blonde gaki." Kakashi looked up from his book to the two 'prisoners'. Haku was still unconcious but Zabuza was fine except for a few scratches.

He decided to humor the missing nin and told Sakura to bring Naome, preferably the real one. She had gone back to using Bunshins to raid Gato's headquarters and do various training and tasks around the small island. She was a one kunoichi army!

"You rang sensei?" Naome greeted him when she stepped into the room. She wondered why she was needed.

"Speak Zabuza." Kakashi motioned to the seven swordsman member.

"Hmph, I need to ask a favor of the both of you. Take Haku back to Konoha with you." Naome blinked, then blinked again. Was this some kind of trick, a dream, or had Zabuza lost his sanity? What little of it there may have been anyway.

"May I ask why?" The grey haired nin questioned.

"Haku has an ice gekki genkai, I understand Konoha actually likes those. He's also never been listed as an official shinobi, so he has no previous allegiences. Finally, he'll be able to live happily in Konoha, where he can become a medic nin." He listed the reasons on three callous fingers. Naome wondered if his heart was just as calloused as those hands that wielded such a large sword.

"With me he'll always be on the run, his life constantly threatened simply because he is affiliated with me. I couldn't stand it if he were to be killed." He said gravely, reflecting the situation.

"Today I honestly feared that you had killed him, and I know if you had answered yes that I would have lost myself to a beserk rage." He said directly to her. She remembered that foul power that had coursed through her when she thought Sasuke had died. If that was just as a teammate, how would she feel if it were her own son that lie dead to the world in her arms?

"So I'm asking you, take him to Konohagakure." Kakashi took a moment to think but he could feel Naome's _look_ pointed straight at him. He just knew that failing to comply to this favor would cost him greatly and he unconciously checked to make sure his precious was still in his pouch.

"If he agrees." He finally compromised. He could almost _hear_ the grin that threatened to split his student's face.

Zabuza nodded and fell silent again. It had only been one day since the battle, and he doubted that the blonde had held back much, so he might be waiting for a while for Haku to wake up. How hard did the gaki hit him?

Naome's bunshins were all over the island. Some had been raiding Gato's HQ and running off any bandits left in town. The villagers had all congregated together, thanks to Inari, and everyone was working on making sure that everyone was being taken care of. Now orphans and the homeless were being given shelter and food for their tummies.

Some bunshins, the majority, were finishing up the bridge under Tazuna's watchful eye. It would be finished in another day at the pace they were going. Still more were at the waterfall. Naome was determinned to finish this stage of her training before they left if it killed her. She was making abundant progress to, she'd almost finished it!

The stuff found in Gato's headquarters was enough to feed the island, cover the C-rank turned A-ranked mission, and still leave more than enough left over for the country to live off of until next harvest. More interesting than that though, was the shinobi smogus board she found in his office.

Gato had hired numerous shinobi in his time, usually lower leveled than Zabuza though, and he always applied the Beat-Down-Shinobi-With-Thugs-To-Avoid-Paycheck strategy. However, once the shinobi he had hired were dead there was still all their stuff that had been left behind, and he had amassed quite the collection.

Naome's bunshins found weapons, scrolls, a white rabbit she suspected belonged to Haku, medicine, and a hitaite from several of the smaller villages, all of them with a line through the symbol. The weapons were usually pretty straight forward, lots of kunai and shuriken that wasn't worth much, a couple swords, a naginata on one occasion, and a spiked chain that must've belonged to the Demon Brothers.

The scrolls were even more varied though. A few contained jutsu, some containted information on a particular village, a couple taijutsu scrolls, but the real beauty was the summoning contract. When she found it she immediately unrolled it to see what kind of animal it was. The summons were cats apparently, and there were plenty of them from what she could understand of the seal.

She decided to save that one for later and moved on to the medicine. Most of it was herbs that she was almost certain belonged to Haku, but the demon brothers had been big on poison and she found lots of that and the antidotes. She kept them seperated and put them into a blank scroll improvised into a sealing scroll, carefully labeled so no one would get hurt.

She wasn't sure what to do with the hitaites, so she sealed them into a seperate scroll to hand over to Kakashi. She wouldn't keep much, considering the treasure trove she had found. Some fire ninjutsu scrolls she got for Sasuke, a scroll on genjutsu for Sakura, some interesting sounding jutsu for herself, and the scrolls with village info she'd give to Kakashi.

With everything sorted out and organized to be handed over to the Original Naome, the bunshin started in on Gato's papers. They were pretty boring, and aside from the fact she found out he traded with almost every smaller country, there wasn't a whole lot interesting going on. Unless you counted what exactly he traded.

However when she found something signed by _Orochimaru_ she decided it was worth a cursory reading, just in case. That document listed a bunch of shinobi equipment was shipped to Rice country, more specifically to the hidden village there, Otogakure. Orochimaru was apparently their leader!

Yeah, this was an important find, especially when she saw the numbers. They implied that Oto had a pretty large force, that was almost the same number of equipment made in Konoha! That meant there was an up and coming shinobi village there and Orochimaru, the sannin, was at the head of it.

Orochimaru held a grudge against Konoha. How could he not, if he had spies in the village and everything? Which meant that the equipment that Gato had been scheduled to ship out today was probably going to be used against her fellow shinobi.

A good thing Naome's bunshins were making sure none of Gato's ships left the dock. She'd have to figure out which ship held the shinobi stuff and tell Kakashi-sensei. With all this figured out, the bunshin gathered the stuff and started carrying it back to where the Original Naome was. This mission was such a cluster-fuck!

_Tazuna's House, One Hour Later!_

"Hmm, so this village, Oto, is gearing for war." Kakashi sighed when he heard Naome's report. This was troubling. He'd have to summon Pakkun and get the pug to carry a message scroll back to Konoha to send someone to guard the boats. He nearly pouted when he thought of all the _paperwork_ this mission was going to force him to write.

From where he was leaning against the wall and pretending to read his precious, he could see Naome handing out the trinkets she had found in Gato's office. She had already given him the information on the smaller villages and he had memorized them with his sharingan. Most of it wasn't very recent but there was some info on Oto, like location.

Naome studied the summoning scroll she had found but couldn't make up her mind. To sign it or not to sign it, any way she sliced it she just couldn't bring herself to write her name in the blank spot. Having a summoning contract would be so cool, but a feeling told her that this wasn't the one she should sign.

"It won't burst into flames no matter how hard you stare at it Naome." The blonde eeped and shot the Uchiha a dirty look. Curse that self rightous bastard who purposely waited until she wasn't paying attention to speak up!

"I'm not going to sign it." She finally decided aloud. She believed in fate to an extent, it was comforting to think all the shit that had happened in her life wasn't random, but her idea of it was a little screwed towards the Red Light side.

Fate dealt you a hand of cards that was your life, but playing the hand was free will. Naome was sure, that whoever was destined for this contract, it wasn't her. Still, it was a shame to waste it.

"Ne, You want it Sasuke?" She asked out of the blue, which is where her insane and random questions usually came from.

"Are you sure?" The Uchiha asked seriously from his seat on the couch. He couldn't believe that someone would give up the chance for a summons, but he guessed if anyone would it would be Naome Uzumaki. The crazy girl who was the only one who could put him down in a fair fight.

"Yyeeee-es!" She drew out, pretending to make a big show of not being certain. Sasuke felt the urge to chuckle but he crushed it ruthlessly. With this summons he'd be one step closer to killing _him._

"Wait until we're in Konoha to sign it, Sasuke." Kakashi ordered. He explained that if a contract didn't have a current summoner, whoever signed it and made the hand signs would be sucked into the summon's world for a test to see if they were worthy of holding the contract.

Sasuke decided, wisely in Naome's fair opinion, that vanishing into another demension during a mission wasn't the smartest thing he could do. Naome made a sealing scroll for the contract so he could carry it easier.

Having watched the entire interaction, Sakura chuckled at her team's antics. This genjutsu scroll was really interesting and she could hardly wait to get a crack on it! Something else that interested her was the lone medical scroll Naome had found and tossed in her direction just ten minutes earlier.

Medic-nin were highly sought after on shinobi teams. Tsunade the sannin had introduced the idea of a single medic on each team during the Third shinobi war and many considered it the only reason they had survived it. Konoha was the only village with a school dedicated to creating medic-nin.

Medics were vulnerable though, at least most of them were. Some though, like Tsunade, became Battle Mednins. They went out on the frontline to heal soldiers wounded and fought beside their shinobi brethren, using their knowledge of the human body to devestating affect.

It would take a lot of extra training, but if she asked Naome and Sasuke to help her, she knew she'd have no shortage of training partners. They all had to get stronger. She didn't ever want to be as weak as she was on this mission ever again! If she had to she would recreate the Sakura Blossom Impact Tsunade was famous for!

Sakura had never been motivated to train before. She never did anything more than what was required by her sensei at the academy unless it came with the homework. Getting sweaty and dirty would have hurt her chances with Sasuke-kun!

Now though, she could honestly say she didn't care. After running to Sasuke's body, so still and just _lying_ there, she never wanted to be helpless in a fight again. Next time she'd stand next to Sasuke-kun and Naome against whatever foe got in their way! She'd become a medic-nin, she would surpass Tsunade if she had to!

She couldn't stay the weak little girl she was right now, and if it meant she had to train until her hands fell off then so be it. She had a lot of catching up to do.

"I'm going to train in the clearing." She called over her shoulder, already heading out the door. She felt her teammates' eyes staring at her back and she smiled. This Sakura flower was ready to bloom.

_Spare Bedroom._

"Zabuza-sama, why do I have to-?" Haku cut himself off. He didn't usually question his master. But what he was suggesting, seperating? He didn't want to be alone anymore!

"Haku, listen to me." The ice user swallowed and forced himself to look up at Zabuza.

"Besides what I've already listed, there's on more reason I want you to go to Konoha." What did he mean?

"I want you to be happy. Cliche as it sounds, I've considered you my son for some time now." Haku felt tears slide down his cheeks but he didn't make a sound. He'd go to Konoha with Naome and her friends, and he would try to be happy. Besides, he wasn't really alone. He wouldn't ever be, if things turned out alright.

So the next day, he packed up his supplies and retrieved Fluffy from Naome's care to put him in his travelling cage. Today they would be going to Konoha, leaving Zabuza to run to avoid the leaf nin on their way to secure the ships here. He hated leaving his master alone, but he knew it was for the best for both of them.

"The bridge isn't officially finished yet." Tazuna announced to the group that had come to see the shinobi off.

"What are you talking about jiji?" Naome questioned him. The bridge stretched all the way back to Hi no kuni!

"We still need to name it." He pointed out. Team seven looked at eachother before they simultaniously decided to humor the old man.

"The Great Naome Bridge!" Inari finally cried out, unable to contain the surprise any longer. He had been the one to suggest the name and he was glad his grandpa had accepted it.

Naome Uzumaki stared at the sign that had been erected, previously covered by a large canvas. There it was, her name in big bold letters, she had a bridge named after her.

Yeah, this mission was definitely screwed up. First she kills people, then gets in an A-rank battle with Zabuza Momochi, then she fights his apprentice, then she masters cutting a waterfall after a solid night's training and nearly giving herself chakra exhaustion, now she gets a bridge named after her.

"...I'm glad I brought my camera." She finally mumbled, pulling out the device and flashing a few pictures. This was going in the scrapbook, right next to Hikaru-chan eating ramen.

It was with much fanfare that team seven plus one crossed the bridge into fire country. Naome was thankful, to say the least, when she reached the relative safety of her home country. She couldn't wait to get home! Just wait a little longer Hikaru-chan, kaa-chan's coming home!

Without the civilian Tazuna, they made much better time getting back to Konoha. Within a few hours they could see the mountain and the village gates. Kakashi signed them and Naome was about to make a run home, but Kakashi gripped her shoulder before she could.

"Sorry Naome, but you and I have a date with a kage, and you Haku." He added as an afterthought. They had to get Haku instated into the village, and the council would probably want to pull the CRA because of his blood line.

"B-But...Hikaru-chan!" She tried to convince him.

"Send a bunshin, it's safer." He half ordered, half suggested to her. Naome groaned in exasperation, and fatigue, but she complied. After making the bunshin she actually felt the drain. She would need to get a good night's sleep if she was going to be fit for duty in the morning.

At the Hokage's office, they reported everything (Almost) that had happened on the mission. Haku was asked a few questions about himself and what he and Zabuza normally did, but since he was never an official shinobi they decided against interrogating him seriously. He was given a probation period of six months and a list of bachelorettes for the CRA act, which since he was of age he was more or less forced to comply to if he was joining the village.

The only reason Kakashi, and his rare White Chakra, hadn't been committed to it was because he made jounin before coming of age, so he was allowed to refuse. Haku would become a chunin at the end of probation though, so he had little choice in the manner besides choosing the three girls, the minimum allowed by the CRA.

Haku left with a flushed face but actively looking through the list. Hey, he was still a hot blooded teenage boy, whether or not he was a shinobi!

Konoha was a very _different_ place then he had expected. He saw more civilians in the first five minutes than he had in his whole life! What was more, they liked blood lines. In fact that council had practically _thrown_ the list of women he was looking at right at him! They liked blood lines here, and they didn't like it when the blood line died out.

From what he understood, the Uchiha boy was the last of his clan as well and would be forced into the CRA when he turned fourteen, or became a chunin, whichever happened first. The minimum for the CRA was three but as many as five could be chosen. The women who were elidgable were interesting as well.

One was a girl his age named Hana Inuzuka, one of the main clans here, the note about her mentioned she worked with three nin-ken dogs. Another was a girl named Hinata Hyuga but she was only twelve, though she turned thirteen in September. Yet another was a woman named Shiho.

There were more, but these were the three who he was probably going to choose. The other women seemed a little strange to him, and most of them were older than he was. Hinata was three years younger, but in the shinobi world that wasn't really much of a difference.

_Hokage Office!_

Hiruzen Sarutobi was old, 65 years was an eternity to a shinobi. Few lived as long as he, through so many wars. He was called the God of Shinobi not just for his talent in all shinobi arts, but because he had forgotten more than most shinobi learn in a lifetime. He was, in the terms of shinobi, ageless.

Hiruzen Sarutobi felt each individual year as Naome told the story of everything she had been through since she turned ten years old. She was asked to demonstrate her unique henge, and he realized why she would vanish from his orb at times. He heard how she hid her pregnancy, the two weeks she spent in Henge after the birth, and the year since then.

That wasn't even the worst. She told him about Kabuto being tricked into revealing he was a spy to Naome's Ran Henge, about how Orochimaru was the leader of the new village Oto, and about her training up until that part. So much to take in that even he was speechless for a time afterwards.

While trying to think of what to do with this information, he took a good 'look' at Naome's chakra levels. They were low, but not too dangerous yet. She looked almost dead on her feet and if she had been using kage bunshins as often as he had been told, he could see why.

"Jiji, I'm also the Pranking Artist." That one didn't come as much as a surprise. He had suspected but never got any proof. Beyond the hand writing, which could be forged, there wasn't anything linking her to these useful acts of vandalism.

"Also jiji, a few months ago I pulled a prank on ANBU, dying their uniforms pink with orange dots. I did something else that day too." She hadn't even told Kakashi that part yet, but having drawn what she knew to be the fox's chakra, she figured she should come clean.

"I know I'm a jinchuriki, and who my mom is. She was Kushina Uzumaki." Oh yes, Hiruzen certainly felt like the old man he had become. He looked closely with his ancient eyes at the girl before him.

Naome Uzumaki wasn't a child anymore, of that he was certain. The youngest of her age mates, she had done more than most shinobi twice her age. She had fooled an entire village, become good enough at interrogation techniques to fool a spy, become strong enough to take on jounin level ninja, and raised a child at the same time.

She knew she was a jinchuriki, yet she had made no move to use the power against the people of Konoha, although she had every reason. She knew who her mother was, and had the wisdom not to shout it from the highest point. She had raised a child, while she was little more than child herself.

Hiruzen blew from his oak pipe and thought back to another fiery hearted kunoichi. Naome was just like Kushina, a troublemaker of the highest degree who managed to make the village stronger all while barely being seen. Naome wasn't a child, but he was an old man.

"First to deal with is Kabuto, be careful when you deal with him. I don't want him exposed just yet, a visible spy is a blessing after all." He chuckled, wondering what Naome's bunshin was doing at that moment.

_Naome's Apartment, Ran's POV._

Ran opened her door using the spare key and was pleasantly surprised to see two of the genin covered in head to toe in paint while Hikaru sat in fake innocence on the laz-e boy.

"Maa, what's happened while kaa-chan was gone Hikaru-chan?" She held out her arms just in time to accept the whiskered bundle that hopped into them. Oh she had missed this, she had so missed this!

"Ran-san, my apologies. I left my teammates alone and they made a mess." Kabuto greeted her, coming out of the kitchen. Ran picked up Hikaru and took a moment to admire her pink apron on the silver haired genin's body. She especially loved the _Housewife_ on the front.

"I did warn you not to let him touch the paint didn't I? Have you finished cleaning the mess?" She asked pleasantly, setting her son down so he could dash off to his bedroom, which was a mess. What was she paying these genin for again?

"Hai." Yoroi reported. Other than him and Misumi, the house was more or less clean. They hadn't been brave enough to go into the kid's room, or Ran's for that matter.

"Where did you go while you were gone, Nina?" Kabuto asked boldly. Just as promised, Anko hadn't appeared on the 13th, so he was able to report to Orochimaru-sama. He was interested in meeting this Nina woman.

"Oh, just to make use of a few loose ends from the old days." Her pattern of speech had changed again, so it sounded like a much older woman than she really was.

"By the way, I heard some juicy news! It appears Gato of Gato corporations died a few days ago. In a small country called Nami." She waited to see the reaction this news would get.

"That would explain why our shipment did not arrive as scheduled." Kabuto sighed. They had been counting on that equipment for the up comin invasion. That Gato had been killed was troubling, but he'd focus on that later.

"Nina, Orochimaru-sama is very interested in you." He started slowly, motioning for his team to go and clean themselves up, now that the walls were clean.

"Is that so?" Ran stretched out the kinks in her back and decided to see how much of the money she had left was still there. A fair bit of it actually, she expected them to take more. Were they really so afraid of her?

"Would you mind giving just a little personal information?" He asked politely. He had been studying their encounter since she had left, and had figured out more or less how to treat her so he wouldn't be killed.

Nina, or Ran as she preferred being called in this form, was very formal. She spoke politely, painted seriously, and didn't do anything that a respectable old woman wouldn't do. If he treated her and her 'son' with respect, then he could get away with more than he did with Orochimaru-sama.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt." She sighed after a long pause. She needed to treat this with the utmost cautiousness. He must not suspect she was lying through her teeth or he might kill both her and Hikaru!

"I am Nina, I am nearly seventy years old next June." She sighed wistfully.

"Seventy years?" He had been expecting maybe fifty at the most, like Orochimaru-sama. Seventy was older than even the Sandaime! She was almost from the beginning of the Hidden Villages!

"Would you like to see my true form? I don't like showing it often though, as my beauty has all but vanished." She chuckled wistfully, a far off look in her eye. Perhaps reminicing her youth? He silently nodded and made sure to memorize the form that appeared from a cloud of smoke.

The woman was ancient, gnarled like an old tree. Her once red hair now shone white, and very thin. A slight hunch appeared in her back, and several scars appeared. Nina's eyes also changed, where they were blue was now a nearly white color.

Kabuto saw how frail the body looked but when he concentrated on the face, he saw no hint of a weakness. Even the sandaime couldn't help but show his age in his eyes every once in a while, yet this woman's eyes only told him she was amused by the expression on his face.

"Not very pretty am I? Ah, but once I was the belle at the brawl!" She cackled, sounding much the old woman she was now. Her voice was scratchy, and higher pitched, it sent chills down his spine. She sounded almost like how a demoness would sound.

"Kabuto-san, if your master Orochimaru-san wishes to know of me, he is more than welcome to meet me!" The bunshin said with a bow before making the signs to turn herself back into Ran. She didn't want her son asking why she changed into an old woman in front of this guy.

"That is good news, because he'll be coming here for the chunin exam." He noticed a hint of confusion before clarity overcame her eyes. More than likely whatever she had been doing outside the village made her forget about the chunin exams.

"Hmm, I'd be careful about the invasion." Ran was working out on a limb here. She wasn't sure if they were planning an invasion or not, but if she didn't take risks then he might decide to test her to see if she was really who she said she was or not.

"Did your loose end tell you about our plans?" Kabuto questioned her seriously. There was no reason to suspect an invasion, yet Nina seemed to already know what they were planning.

"Him? Oh no, he is a doddery old fool. No, I learned about it from someone high up." She placed a few stray strands behind her ear and settled down into the laz-e boy. She really needed a vacation.

"High up? The only one you could've spoken to was the Kazekage!" He was impressed. She had connections with the Kazekage? After meeting Nina twice now, he could understand why they hadn't heard anything about it. Nina seemed like the type to hide her tracks well, even in the sand.

Meanwhile, Ran was trying to figure out how she was going to get out with a blank map of this minefield. She was charting it as she went but that would only get her so far before she made a misstep. What was more, their ally the kazekage was involved in an invasion to take place during the chunin exams! Her home, her village would be under attack!

"Well aren't you the sharpest kunai in the pouch." She chuckled, putting on the air of a condescending old woman.

By now Kabuto's teammates had returned, more or less paint free. Ran took a moment to lean forward and check to see if her bathroom was messy but they had cleaned up after themselves it seemed. Wise for them because at the moment her fuse was worn out after the mission BS she had to go through.

"Is there a time and place I can meet Orochimaru-san before the actual invasion?" She questioned, standing up to head to the kitchen. All this nervous energy was killing her. She needed a drink.

Naome, as a rule of thumb, didn't normally touch the sake she kept in her fridge. She had been forced, in her disguise as Ran, to drink more than her fair share after Hikaru's birth though, so it was handy to keep around. In times of stress, she often took a drink or two to calm her head.

"Can I tempt you Kabuto-san and friends?" She called from the kitchen, showing off three bottles of good brand sake. Hey, if she was going to buy it she'd at least get the good stuff!

"No thank you Ran-san." Kabuto sighed. He was suddenly glad he had held back his teammates from the bottles during that baby sitting mission. Ran obviously liked her sake and wanted a drink now that she was home.

"In one week he'll be in the Forest of Death, in order to 'observe' a person of interest. Right after the Second Test ends, he'll be at the Memorial Stone. That will be when you can meet him." Orochimaru will be interested to hear what Kabuto had learned about Nina. That she was so old surprised him, that she was yet so confident in her abilities worried him.

"Person of interest?" Nina repeated. A genin taking the exam or one of the proctors? Could be just about anyone, but more than likely a leaf nin. Maybe even someone she knew.

"I don't suppose you'd let me in on the surprise?" She asked, lifting a cup to her lips. Ah, sake always helped to calm the nerves.

"Perhaps if you could trade information." Kabuto suggested. After all, they were meant to be using Nina as a means to watch Konoha even when Kabuto's cover was blown. She needed to bring something to the table.

"Do you know why Anko-chan went on leave?" He didn't. As a genin he wasn't privy to information like that. He assumed she'd been injured but hadn't seen any sign of a wound all the times she had popped up to check on Hikaru.

"She's just over two months pregnant with Kakashi Hatake's child. He intends to marry her." This information was...interesting...to say the least. Orochimaru-sama would be very interested in knowing this. It would also provide information about the curse seal on a pregnant woman.

That the child was Kakashi Hatake's made this little tidbit very delicate though. They wouldn't be able to whisk Anko and the child away because Kakashi would no doubt have her protected, and ANBU skill had jumped forward in the last year. They wouldn't miss something like that.

"Thank you for the data. This person of interest happens to be the last of his clan." Ran's eyes shot up to meet Kabuto's and in them he saw something he couldn't be sure of. Surprise, a little worry, curiosity, and a fierce glow of protectiveness.

"Is something wrong, Nina-san?" He switched to calling her Nina in order to try and remind her that he was someone who knew who she truly was. He was in a position, albeit small, of power over her.

"On Sasuke-kun's team is a girl named Naome Uzumaki." Ran knew she had accidentally let her emotions show too much, so now she was trying to misdirect any thoughts he had on the matter.

"Naome Uzumaki and Hikaru-chan are very important to me." Kabuto understood the threat, though she had only stated a fact. A few facts actually. Naome and Hikaru were related somehow, Perhaps cousins as Kushina had died a long time ago. Another fact, hurting Naome too badly would anger Nina. He didn't want to think about what Nina-san might do if she got angry.

"Make sure Orochimaru knows this when he enters the Forest of Death." With that, Ran signed a scroll that said that their mission was complete and they were able to go and collect their money from the mission desk. Kabuto hurried his teammates out the door, although he tried to act nonchalantly.

That woman was intimidating, more so that she might appear in any form at all and he wouldn't even realize it until he was dead or dying at her feet. He'd be sure to try and stress Naome's importance to Orochimaru-sama. Perhaps he could just knock out the girl quickly at the start of the fight?

Ran waited until they were gone before finishing off the bottle she had and going to her son's room. No rest for the weary, as the saying went. She still had to clean up his bedroom! Then she had to wait for Naome to come and relieve her so that she could dispel and report the meeting.

Within two hours, with Hikaru-chan's 'help', the bedroom as clean again. Hopefully this time it would stay that way. She wondered what was taking Naome so long. How had the meeting with the hokage gone?

As it were, Naome came with a guest. She ended up running into Haku, who had apparently just realized he had no money for a hotel room and nowhere to stay. She had assured him that he could stay at her place until he started doing missions.

"Tadaima!" She called, looking around for her son. She missed him so bad! She wondered if he had grown any while she was gone? Had he said any new words?

"Oh thank God, you won't believe what you'll learn when I dispel!" The Ran bunshin cried, looking close to mental breakdown actually. Naome was a little hesitant but she nodded and closed her eyes, waiting for the memory to sort itself out in her mind.

"N-Naome-san!" Haku had to catch her when she fainted with the bunshin. He had seen what she had done with her kage bunshins, so he guessed the stress this bunshin had gone through had finally pushed Naome over the edge and into oblivion.

"Kaachan, what wrong?" Haku looked over at the one year old in footie pajamas. Naome had a son!

Thirty minutes later Naome roused and immediatly took her son into her arms and held him close like he might be taken away at any moment. Haku awkwardly stood by, knowing something must've happened and it had greatly upset Naome-san.

"Ne, Hikaru-chan, this is Haku-jiji." Time to introduce her son to his new uncle. Besides, she had to run back to the old man and tell him everything she had learned. An invasion, Orochimaru coming after Sasuke, the Kazekage was their partner in crime! Oh yeah, someone up there _really_ hated her.

"Hi Haku-ji!" Hikaru cried cheerfully. It must be nice to be a year old again, Naome thought wistfully. Not having to worry beyond kaa-chan coming home again in time for dinner. Not even being toilet trained!

"Hello." Haku waved nervously at the small boy. He had never been so close to such a small child. He wasn't sure yet how to act.

"I hate to do this when you probably want to rest, but can you stay with Hikaru-chan while I run back to the hokage?" She wanted to sleep too, but this was more important. There would be time to sleep afterwards. Hopefully anyway, because she wasn't sure how much of this she could take.

Haku nodded and accepted the reluctant child he would need to care for. He owed Naome alot for her sparing his life and then inviting him into her home, he should be able to repay her in this small way at the very least. Naome reassured them both she would be back as soon as possible before she jumped straight from the window, before quickly doubling back.

"Haku, if a woman with purple hair comes by tell her you're a friend of mine or she might accidentally kill you!" She called through the window before darting off. Haku was only able to stare at her retreating back as it dashed for the tower in the distance. A purple haired woman?

Naome, when she chose to visit the old man she considered a grandfather, always came in through the window. The ANBU knew this and had standing orders that she was always to be allowed in, unless the hokage was in a meeting or outside of course. So she wasted no time with the door and let herself in through the open window.

"Jiji have I got bad news for you!" She panted, she was low on chakra and low on patience, so politeness be damned she was going to report to the Old Man!

"Naome, you left just a few minutes ago. What could've happened in only half an hour?" He was almost afraid to ask, and when Naome told him everything, he realized why. Naome's luck was strange, she always seemed to get into bad situations but they always passed and left her with something good in return. I.E., her son, Shikamaru Nara's friendship, the mission scrolls, the list went on.

"This could be either very good or very bad, but getting this news means we can prepare, at least." Hiruzen exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"Naome, go home and get some much needed rest. Your team has been given the week off so you have no excuse for not getting some shut eye. I'll send someone by if we need you later." She could only nod, unsure who _we_ was but at that point, not really caring.

"Oi, Old Man, today's the day you give me your hat!" Naome turned to the direction of the child's voice to see a little boy, maybe about ten years old, run into the room with a single shuriken.

A shuriken in the hands of a novice was still a deadly weapon, and Naome automatically moved to disable her opponent. Luckily enough she had enough time to simply snatch it from his hand and bash his head with her fist, if he had been a little older and faster she might have reacted like he was a serious threat.

"Ne, what the hell are you doing running in here and threatening the hokage, gaki?" She asked bitterly. She wasn't in any mood to deal with whiny kids. She just wanted to follow her kage's orders and reaquaint herself with her pillow.

"Honorable grandson!" This time it was a shrill voice that Naome almost checked off as a woman's. However the person that ran into the room was most definitely a man. Only a man could go from insanely worried to condescending in the blink of an eye once he realized who was in the room he just ran into.

"Honorable grandson you should not interact with someone such as _her._ She is not befitting company for a hokage's grandson." The man declared snobbishly, making a point of stressing the pronoun. Naome knew a prejudiced jerk when she saw one but she was really in no mood to deal with anybody's BS at the moment.

"Honorable grandson?" She repeated, trying to ease her temper a bit. Attacking a fellow konoha nin was frowned upon. Commiting bloody murder in front of a child was frowned upon as well.

"That's right! I'm the Hokage's grandson! I'd like to see you try and hit me again!" The kid in front of her boasted. He made several mistakes in that announcement. One, he shouted very loudly near her head. Two, he openly challenged her. Three, she had obviously been in a bad mood to start with.

"Shut up you no good Gaki!" She finally yelled, bringing her fist down on the same spot multiple times until a Tower Of Pain had formed. When she was done she threw the shuriken she had confiscated at the gaki's over sized scarf to pin him in place before she turned back to the hokage.

"I'm going to get out of here old man. I feel like I just did _two _A-ranks rather than just _one!_" She took the time to shoot an irritated _this-is-my-time-of-the-month_ glare at the annoying screaming man before she left the room. She really needed some sleep.

"A-rank? She was joking wasn't she, Hokage-sama?" Ebisu looked to his leader. As far as he knew she was only a genin, a rookie one at that.

"Hai, her team ran into Zabuza Momochi and came out with no injuries. Naome played a large part in liberating the country of Nami as well." Hiruzen didn't much mind dispensing praise for his surrogate granddaughter. Besides, she deserved the credit. It was her that the new bridge was named after.

Naome was taking the civilian way home. She didn't want to risk passing out while roof hopping. That would be both painful and humiliating. She was half way to the Red Light district when she realized she was being followed. She _still_ hadn't asked sensei for chakra sensing techniques! Damn!

"Oi Gaki, I'm in a bad mood so please stop following me." She half heartedly called over her shoulder. A square rock? Seriously? What were they teaching this kid at the academy? She wasn't ever _this_ bad was she? God she hoped not.

"As expected from a great ninja who completed an A-rank mission!" The box popped up to reveal the kid she had plastered onto the floor earlier. Hadn't he had enough punishment for one day?

"Train me, oyabun!" Boss? She wasn't a boss! She was a genin and single mother! Not a boss!

"Sorry gaki, but I am going home for some sleep. If you really want to train you'll have to do it on your own time." She began to walk away again.

"Hey wait up! Come on, why not?" He was still following her. Why was he still following her?

"I'm tired gaki." What was his name anyway? She couldn't keep calling him gaki, could she?

"Well how about tomorrow? At ten!" She nearly groaned in despair but she decided she may as well. Besides, she was willing to sell her soul for a blanket at this point. She would've agreed to meeting him at five in the morning.

"Fine gaki, I'll meet you at training ground seven at ten. If you want to train, I'll show you the regimen I followed when I was your age." He'd probably regret coming to her for training in the morning but maybe this would convince him not to go ask random shinobi for training after they came back from a hard mission.

"Yosh! I'll be there!" The gaki ran off before she could even get his name but she doubted it would matter all that much. She still wanted sleep so badly she was almost willing to lie down in the middle of the street for a few winks. The only thing that kept her moving was the thought that Haku was alone with her son and Anko might drop in at any moment.

When she got home, she could only slowly trudge to her bed and gratefully land in a heap over the covers. There was the faint sensation of somebody pulling the blanket over her body but she was already gone.

Haku sighed in exasperation as he finished tucking Naome in. She had worked herself to exhaustion. He'd be surprised to see her awake by Wednesday. He walked back to the living room to explain himself to the purple haired woman, who had indeed shown up like Naome had warned.

"You better have a good fucking explanation why my imouto was so exhausted after only a C-rank mission." Something told Haku that he was going to be in a lot of pain in a very short amount of time.

_The Next Day, Nine in the Morning!_

Naome came to awareness slowly but surely. That tends to happen when a one year old is jumping on your bed trying to wake you up.

Naome realized what she had just thought and her eyes snapped open. She was home! Home with her son in her nice safe, missing nin free, apartment! Where no spies were lurking around to wait for her to slip up and her surrogate big sister was just a few doors down!

Then she remembered she had an appointment at ten today. Crap, she had promised that gaki she would show up. If she was going to be a good role model for her son, she had to keep all her promises. Besides, sleep would elude her now she was awake.

"Haku was sleeping on the couch. She felt a little bad about making him sleep on the couch, as the hostess she should've offered her own bed, but she shook her head. She'd need to arrange for Haku to be given a key to an empty apartment on the third floor, next to her fake apartment.

Naome made a quick breakfast of ramen and dango, if she was feeling lazy and sluggish who could blame her after the week she had? Either way, she fed her son, made a bunshin to take him to Day Care, grabbed a few supplies, wrote a note and left it for Haku, then she headed for training ground seven like the devil was at her heels.

She made it with five minutes to spare and took the time to think on what she'd have the kid do. First a general test to see where he was in ability, after that a light warm up, then she'd move on to trap evasion and disguise. He obviously needed help in that area.

Gaki appeared with one minute to spare and looking like Christmas had come in July. She liked that he was so enthusiastic.

"Okay Gaki, first things first!" She watched his eyes glitter in anticipation, he was almost shaking with excitement.

"I can't keep calling you Gaki, even if it's funny, so tell me your name and your goal for the future." She ordered. She'd skip the whole like and dislike thing. She'd learn those kinds of things later on if she spent more time with the kid.

"Konohamaru Sarutobi, and my goal is to be hokage!" Naome blinked in surprise but only grinned.

"Well that's good. That means I don't have to modify the regimen too much." He looked at her questioningly.

"Because my goal is to be hokage also. I will protect this entire village and my precious people with my last breath." She saw his eyes grow wide and wondered what he was thinking. She could only make a rough estimate based on his expression and body language.

"Alright, first we'll give you a general test to see where you are in ability. Show me the three academy jutsu." Konohamaru, she had to call him that now that she knew his name, snapped to attention and made the signs for kawarmii.

He needed work and a barrel of elbow greese. That was her conclusion when she saw how little he was capable of doing. His physical strength was good, and endurance was pretty high for a kid, but when one got to things like target and chakra, he crashed and burned.

Naome couldn't see what the problem was at first. He shouldn't have so much trouble with it, he didn't have her problem with too much chakra. He should at least be able to do kawarmii right, but he ended up leaving behind his shirt.

"Konohamaru I am not going to lie to you. This is going to take work. It won't happen in a day, not even a week, it'll take time to develop the skills to perform these jutsu and hit the target. Skill, comes with practice." She was a little discouraged and wondered if she had been so bad, but dismissed the thought. No, she had been better than this. What was he learning at the academy?

"Ebisu-sensei never works with me on my chakra training, saying that he'll help me get to hokage by taking the shortest route." Konohamaru grunted. He was exhausted! They hadn't even gotten to the actual training yet!

"Short cuts!" He looked up in surprise as the normally happy and mellow girl suddenly became enveloped in a red blaze of anger.

"That condescending bastard is trying to give you a short cut? There's no such things as short cuts in the ninja world!" He couldn't look away as she ranted. It was like he was being infected by whatever power was flowing through her at the moment.

"You can only become stronger through hard work, short cuts are for the weak who don't have the guts to stick it out! Where does this Ebisu-baka get off spoutin about short cuts, to the _Hokage_ position of all things!" Eventually Naome cooled down and she apologized for going off on a tangent. They were supposed to be training.

"Konohamaru, why do you want to be hokage?" They were sitting at the edge of the field, eating the bentou Naome had packed. She was glad to, it looked like Konohamaru could use the extra energy.

"Everyone calls me Honorable Grandson." She put down her chop sticks and put her attention to the unusually subdued boy. From what she gathered of him so far he wasn't the type to act all depressed.

"They never see me, Konohamaru. Only my grandfather. If I became hokage, then they would have to recognize me too." She was beginning to realize that one didn't have to be an orphan to know loneliness. Acknowledgement, isn't that something she had craved for with her entire being? Something that drove her actions even now?

"Do you know what a Hokage is?" But, she couldn't let him continue this path if that was his reason. She had gone that way and she had nearly self destructed. Now she wanted to protect everyone in the village, especially her son.

"He's the most powerful shinobi in the entire village!" The ten year old answered. Naome knew she couldn't expect him to understand what she was about to say, but he had to hear it eventually. Better now, while he was young and innocent, before he figured it out the wrong way.

"Konohamaru, he may be the most powerful, but I think he is also the most burdened." And she wasn't just talking paperwork either.

"He carries a whole village on his shoulders. Can you imagine how much it must weigh him down, giving shinobi missions he knows they might not come back from?" His shoulders slumped a little and she knew he must've been remembering a time when the Old Man had to leave in the middle of the night to go and do something dangerous. He looked like he was beginning to understand what she was getting at.

"Ne, Konohamaru, if you still want to become known, then make yourself visible. Let people know your name, train until your fists bleed so you can become strong enough to protect everyone." He shook a little and looked up at her, expectantly. She grinned and continued.

"Then they'll know Konohamaru Sarutobi, future hokage."

_1'o' clock! Training ground Ten!_

After she treated Konohamaru to some ramen, and then been caught by that Ebisu-baka who the kid had apparently ran away from, Naome was going to visit her pal Shikamaru! He was never going to believe all the cooky stuff she had been through the past couple weeks! He was totally going to flip!

Although she honestly hadn't expected him to flip as much as he had. Apparently word about her C-rank turned A-rank got around, the story getting more and more messed up with each retelling until she had single handedly beat one of the seven swordsmen and vanquished a nuke nin evil tyrant and had generously been offered the title daimyo but refused in order to return to Konoha.

Needless to say, since she hadn't come to see Shikamaru himself, he had been worried. Now he didn't go around asking everyone if they had seen her, but he definitely wasn't acting like his normal self.

"And he was being all grumpy because no one was sure if you were okay or what!" Ino explained in a louder than necessary voice. Naome at this point, was just trying not to laugh at Shikamaru's expression of embarrassment.

"Well I didn't really face anyone A-ranked, Kakashi-sensei did! I also did not 'vanquish' an evil nuke nin tyrant, I vanquished a midget wearing a suit." She could tell the last one would need some explanation.

"I got a new pal too, his name's Haku and he's going to join the village! He has this super cool ice blood line! He's staying with me until he's allowed to start doing missions!" She reported happily. Haku was a pretty okay guy, and so long as his pet was up to date on all his shots she didn't mind the bunny.

Shikamaru couldn't express the relief he felt when she sauntered into their training ground, looking a bit tired but none the worse for wear. He took the time to notice that something had been replaced in her eyes with something he saw in older shinobi, but he couldn't ask about it here. He'd wait till they were alone.

Still, listening to Naome recount her mission, with the obligatory embellishments, he couldn't help but let out a quiet sigh of relief and fall back onto the grass. He'd been waiting for her to come back home for nearly two weeks and he was glad she made it back alright.

Eventually Asuma released them from the 'training' and Chouji subtely vanished to give his best friends some time alone. Ino got the hint of the atmosphere and left with a small michevous smile on her face. She didn't believe it for a minute when they said they weren't dating!

"Hey Shika, do I seem different at all to you?" He looked over at the blonde. That was a surprising conversation starter. He took the question seriously though and took the time to think about it and look her over more carefully. Did she mean she was hiding a wound?

"You seem the same troublesome girl as ever." He finally concluded. Maybe now he'd get to see what was bothering her. Naome looked down at him with a hard, searching look, (He was still lying on the grass) before she groaned and laid her head down on his stomach.

"On the way to Nami we were attacked by two chunin missing nin." She told him everything she hadn't been able to tell the others. The bunshin's experience, her first kill, training, and telling Kakashi.

Halfway through her hand toyed away his hair tie and she began twirling some locks between her fingers. Shikamaru didn't much mind, she wasn't really pulling it. She finished talking but a finger was still twirling his hair. He was sure he looked like he had just gotten out of bed by this point.

"Is that it? No Yondaime zombie?" He wouldn't be surprised. Why did crazy and troublesome things have to happen around Naome? What did she do to deserve karma's retribution?

"You're not allowed to leave the village anymore." He decided. It was way too troublesome for her to leave if on a simple C-rank she got attacked by a Seven Swordsman. Much better to keep her in the village where he could at least check up on her.

"Nani! I have to take missions to become Hokage!" Naome cried, already catching on to the joke but playing along anyway. She knew he was just worried.

They laid there on the grass, Naome's head on his stomach and her hand in his hair, for a while. Normally she'd get bored of laying there and doing nothing, but it was okay for right now. She was still tired and Shikamaru was in no hurry to do anything.

There wasn't any A-rank missing nin to jump from the forest and attack at any moment. No urgent training to finish. No crying babies or unacknowledged kids. Just her, Shikamaru, and the clouds in the sky.

She was just about to doze off in the lazy atmosphere when they were interrupted.

"Hmm, I don't mean to interrupt, but Naome-san is needed for a meeting with Hokage-sama." Naome eeped and sat up to look at the two chunin guys snickering at them.

"Sorry lover boy, we gotta steal your girlfriend for a bit." Shikamaru rolled over and looked at the chunin guys. A meeting with the hokage? Damn, he'd been hoping to finally tell her that he wouldn't mind dating a troublesome girl like her, but he couldn't do that with other people around. He should've acted sooner.

"Ugh, talk about rotten timing!" Naome groaned. What did she do in a past life to deserve this? She had been a good person hadn't she? Or at least not a truly horrible person!

"Stupid old man." She grumbled, getting to her feet and brushing off the dirt she had laid in. She liked just hanging out with Shikamaru! After almost two weeks being on a mission she wasn't sure she'd survive on she hadn't been able to wait to see him!

"See ya later Shika!" She gave him a quick hug before giggling at the funny way his hair was sticking up and jumping away. Time to go see what the old man wanted.

Shikamaru waited until he was sure he was alone before self conciously flattening his hair and returning it to its tie. Darn that troublesome girl. Why'd he fall for such a troublesome girl?

Naome entered the office through the window again, deciding against the door. Doors were for civilians and academy students who couldn't walk up walls!

"Glad you could join us so quickly." Inside was the hokage, that white haired pervert guy who's name she forgot, Kakashi-sensei, and three old people. She blinked for a moment before giving up trying to call up a name for the faces. They would probably introduce themselves sooner or later.

"Naome-san, did you speak with the spy since being dismissed yesterday?" The old woman asked.

"Uhm, actually my bunshin did and when it popped I got the memory!" She answered.

"Orochimaru will be here for the chunin exams! Also he's after someone in the exams, my teammate Sasuke!" She wasn't sure why though. If she had more information on this guy she was sure she could figure out a motive! Darn, she should've sent a Zoro clone to the library to look him up or something!

"After Sasuke-san? Do you know when he will strike?" The old man without the bandages and scars asked. She nicknamed the old crippled man Scar.

"Yeah, he said it would be inside the Forest of Death!" She answered.

"Also, he wants to meet Nina." That took a little clarification. Jiraiya wanted to see for himself the henges. She reluctantly used the Nina henge but when asked to do the Ran henge she hesitated. She had met him when she was pregnant and right after the baby was born.

"What's wrong?" He prodded her, he needed to see her Ran form as well. Naome's shoulder's slumped and she made the sign again, this time focusing on her inner picture of Ran.

"Ran Yurichi!" He cried in surprise. She was surprised he remembered her at all. It had been a year and he thought she was only a civilian.

"Then...the baby?" He could see the answer already and he kicked himself...multiple times. His godchild had been raped and gotten pregnant, then held up a henge during the birth, with no pain relievers. He would never underestimate the gaki again, especially since _she_ had a gaki now.

"A baby? What is this about a child Hiruzen?" Scar questioned. Naome looked at him but got nothing. No emotion or facial twitch to betray his thoughts. What would he do if he knew about Hikaru?

"When I was ten years old, I was raped. A couple weeks later I found out I was pregnant." She answered before anyone else. She needed control of the situation.

"Since then, I've been using Day Care and Bunshins to take care of him whenever I had to. My Ran henge got a job, she recieved an entire apartment complex from an old woman leaving town, and now I have several tenants who pay rent." She continued. It was important to make sure they knew she was capable of taking care of her son by herself.

"He is a year old now, and very smart for his age, despite being born a little early." She finished with a proud grin. Yeah, her son was just all that and a bag of chips!

"I see. So you hid your pregnancy in the academy?" The old man asked.

"Pretty much. Big hoodies hid the baby bump and I could still keep up with everyone else in the physical classes!" She had graduated after all. If she had failed the physical requirements then she wouldn't be standing here would she? She might not even be in the village, since it would provide no way to fend for her and Hikaru.

"We will return to the matter of the child later, for now we have more urgent matters." The old lady pointed out. Naome was a little worried about that 'later'. What was there to decide? She was a legal adult in the village! She made more than enough to sustain herself and Hikaru!

"Meeting with Orochimaru will be risky, but if Naome-san can fool him as well then we have a chance to gain important information on the invasion." Scar said civily. He sounded like he didn't care one way or the other personally and was just fine sending an eleven year old out of the frying pan and into the fire thank you very much.

"Right after the second exam he'll be at the memorial stone." It was the first any of them knew of a definite place the White Snake would be. The first time ever they would come close to finding his trail.

"I hate to send a genin to do this, but Naome you are probably the only one who might be able to trick Orochimaru. We need information and you are the only one who might be able to get it." What Hiruzen hated the most was that they wouldn't be able to get close to provide back up if Orochimaru discovered the plot. If he did, Naome was on her own, without protection.

Naome was silent for a couple minutes. The reality of what she was being asked to do frightened her. She knew she couldn't refuse, deep down she had already accepted the metaphorical mission scroll, but she realized now she was afraid. On the Nami mission she had Kakashi-sensei, who despite all his quirks would never let them die. This was her first solo mission, she had to make it count and get out alive.

"The pay for this S-rank can come from the village. However I think another aspect of this mission should be added." Scar stated. Naome looked up at him, wondering what he was planning.

"Orochimaru is after Sasuke Uchiha, it would be wise to guard him." He was going to ask her to face Orochimaru, not once but twice!

"The second exam, what is it?" She asked. If she was going to put anything into action she'd need a little more information.

"I know it's in the forest of Death, but what is it exactly? I hate to tip the scales, but if we make sure that we pass the test quickly, then Orochimaru won't get a chance to do whatever it is he wants." She could see that they thought the plan had merit, but she didn't like the look in their eyes. They looked like that plan had already been thought of and discarded.

"The test is a retrieval mission. You are given a single scroll, either Heaven or Earth, and you must take its counterpart from an enemy team, within five days, and make it to the central tower." Oh, that made her idea difficult to put into action. Taking a scroll, the right scroll, would take time. Time Orochimaru could use to catch up to them.

Naome wasn't stupid. She knew that they stood about as much chance escaping from the bastard as she had of winning a singing contest. She couldn't hold a note to save her life!

"Naome, I won't blame you if you want to back out. You are only a child, just starting out in life." This was her last shot and it was coming from Jiraiya, another sannin. Naome swallowed down her fear, she beat it down like a mangy mutt that tries to follow you home.

"I'll do it, but if something...happens...Anko Mitarashi is Hikaru's godmother. She'll take care of him." Several nods around the room and they told her to behave as normally as possible and not to tell _anyone_ what had been discussed. They couldn't afford Orochimaru getting the idea they already knew about an invasion.

Dismissed from the meeting, Naome went off to find Shikamaru. She couldn't tell him about the meeting, but she did still want to hang out. On the way, she made two bunshins and sent them off to their seperate targets.

One was a Zoro bunshin and left for the library to look up stuff about Orochimaru. The other was a normal Naome bunshin, and it went to find Shikamaru. Finally, the real Naome went to the memorial stone. She had a sensei to find about some training.

_Hokage's Office!_

"She has grown up, hasn't she Jiraiya?" The room was empty save for sensei and student now.

"...If I had taken her in, back then, would this have happened?" He was the Spy Master of Konoha, on top of that a Sannin. He had enemies, maybe even more than his student had. Taking an infant with him on his travels, would have been dangerous.

He had left her in Konoha, in an orphanage, so she would be safe. Everytime he got a letter from Sarutobi-sensei, he read about her childhood. The time she was kicked out of the orphanage, her first apartment being overcharged, it burning down later, her sudden jump in skill.

He was told about all the times Sarutobi had looked into his crystal ball to see Naome pounding on some tree until her knuckles began to bleed. He read about how hard she pushed herself and studied to bring up her grades. How she made friends with Shikaku's son, Shikamaru Nara. He read about Hiruzen catching the two rather close, lying side by side on the grass. He read about her first date.

He had thought she was living a good life. Not the best, being a jinchuriki she migth never have the happiest life, but it was better than he could've given her.

"Perhaps not, but she wouldn't be the woman she is today if you had." Sensei answered, smoke rolling from his lips as he spoke.

"...I think I'm going to train her. She obviously has talent in espionage." Sarutobi nodded. He could see where Jiraiya was going. Besides, it was Naome's birthright.

"She knows about her mom. What about her father? She didn't somehow figure that one out did she?" He asked, only a tiny bit curious. She hadn't mentioned anything about him, but with that kid one might never be sure.

"No, she doesn't, but I think she's almost ready to learn." Hiruzen answered, staring at the picture of his succesor and predecesor, the Yondaime Minato Namikaze.

Jiraiya followed his sensei's gaze and looked at his old student, his fourth one actually. Naome would be the fifth child he trained. He hoped that she'd meet a better end then the others. He closed his eyes in pain, remembering how he failed each student before. He wouldn't fail this time.

He outlived four students, survived two wars to his sensei's three. He was fifty years old, not on the same level of ancient as his sensei, but getting close. He'd be damned if another student outlived him.

_Original Naome, Memorial Stone._

Naome, in all the previous times she'd come here, had always found Kakashi standing up right with arms at his side, orange book in his right hand. He would always be staring with unreadable eye at a few names on the stone, the names sometimes changed but he'd always stare at the stone.

Today Kakashi was sitting with his back leaning against the memorial stone with a little velvet box in his hands. He was staring at the box, with no orange book in sight.

"Kakashi-sensei?" She felt a little like she was intruding, but pushed on.

"Yo, Naome." He greeted her with a careless wave. Encouraged, she stepped forward until she was standing next to him. Kakashi looked at her eyes on the box in his hand and he flipped it open, revealing an elegant but simple amethyst ring. Amethyst was the same color as Anko's hair and eyes, she knew right away what the ring is for.

"I'm going to ask her tonight." Kakashi told her. He had just gotten the ring and he hoped Anko would like it. He hoped she said yes.

"So when is the wedding and where is my invitation!" Naome didn't seem to have any doubts. She knew Anko was head over heels for the guy. It was so obvious! She would always wonder where he was if he wasn't by at least once a day, she had pictures of her and Kakashi on her nightstand, she was always extra happy whenever he was around.

"I don't know. Maybe after the chunin exams." Naome felt a twinge of guilt that she couldn't warn him about the invasion. She couldn't warn him or Anko that they needed to be careful.

"You know I entered you guys, I'll bet you blow everyone out of the water." Naome laughed at that. After dealing with A-rank nin and possibly dealing with S-rank in the near future, genin sounded like cake. A big piece of cake with extra icing!

"That's so cool! We're going to be chunin! Now you have to help me train!" Kakashi chuckled at his student, but he privately agreed. There was still a couple weeks until the exams started. He should teach them how to sense chakra, and maybe give Sakura some offensive jutsu. Or maybe defensive.

"Sensei, I need chakra sensing techniques and shunshin!" He mentally sighed as Naome jumped forward about the training she wanted. He had to admit, Shunshin and chakra sensing were good choices for her. If she could use the battle shunshin version, at least moderately well, it would help in the Forest of Death.

He showed her the signs, or really just _sign_, for shunshin then gave her a scroll on chakra sensing. He left to go and find his other students. Sasuke would probably benefit more from chakra sensing and evasion tactics than shunshin. Sakura was tougher, she'd been a little more serious since Nami but he wasn't sure how far that went. Might be best to ask Kurenai for a scroll on genjutsu.

_With Sakura Haruno, The River going Through Training Ground four._

Sakura panted in exertion but kept pouring out chakra. She was sitting on the bank of a river with a small fish under the palm of her hands. Her hands themselves were coated in a green light and the fish was flopping weakly.

She had get to the point where she could keep the fish alive out of water for thirty minutes. After she met that goal she'd need a bigger fish. Medical jutsu and genjutsu were amazing! It was honestly something she was good at! Everyday she felt like she was just that much stronger!

Tomorrow she would work on genjutsu again. She was almost done with the Hell Viewing Technique and she had already mastered using Vestibular Disruption, which messed with an opponent's inner ear until they lost their balance and got sick. She thought that was kind of gross but she was quickly getting rid of any squeamish feelings she had.

She had fought with Sasuke-kun yesterday, wanting to find out how far behind she was in taijutsu. She had healed her bruises all by herself afterwards and he had seemed impressed! He even sid that would be useful when she got around to healing bigger wounds!

She giggled to herself, a little fangirl remaining, as she continued pushing healing chakra into the fish. She was at the halfway mark of fifteen minutes now, her best time yet! After this she'd get something to eat to replenish her chakra and start studying the medical book she bought with D-rank money!

Her chakra began to weaken and she pushed her control further. This was the only way to improve. She couldn't be so weak anymore! Next time she would do the protecting!

"I'll be the best Mednin ever, I'll surpass Tsunade-sama!" She promised. That had become her mantra over the last few days. Every spare moment she was training or studying.

Sakura's pink hair was up in a pony tail, and looking at her reflection in the river, she thought she looked better with a pony tail. Her dress had grass stains on it, she'd done some taijutsu training earlier, pushups and laps and such.

Sasuke-kun could hit the bull's eye from twenty meters, she could hit it from ten. Sasuke-kun could do fifty push-ups and thirty laps around a training ground. She could do twenty push-ups and eight and a half laps. Sasuke-kun had an actual training style, she was just using the katas taught at the academy. He knew jutsu, she was just now learning.

She had a lot of catching up to do. Plus both Sasuke and Naome would be growing stronger as well! First she'd get up to their current level, then she'd work hard to try and keep up!

No, she corrected herself. I won't be _trying_ to do anything! I _need_ to get stronger! I won't be helpless anymore! I will keep up, even if it means training all hours of the day and half the night, I'll become the best at medjutsu and genjutsu!

_Naome, Training Ground Seven._

She still had a couple hours before having to pick up Hikaru, so she decided to use them for training. She summoned twenty bunshins and instructed them to hide. She opened the scroll and read the instructions for sensing chakra.

_To sense chakra, one must first become concious of their own chakra. Meditation while suppressing the chakra, as though one were trying to hide, will begin the awareness process. Once one has become totally concious of the amount of chakra they hold at any point in time, sensing others' chakra becomes easier._

_Chakra sensing is naturally easier for people who are more in tune with their own chakra. Being Chakra Sensitive means one is always concious of their chakra, nearly from birth. However these people are rarer. For normal shinobi it takes intense concentration for a week to gain awareness of their chakra._

So that was the first step. Well, she didn't want to take a whole week. Summoning bunshins, she set them down to meditate while she worked on shunshin.

Shunshin was a D-rank, but it wasn't taught to Academy students or genin, at least not usually. It wasn't a teleportation technique, as some ignorant villagers claimed. It was high speed transportation. The reason it wasn't taught to less experienced people though was because of the tunnel vision.

Moving so fast it was difficult to predict where one would end up. The normal travel shunshin made one move at high speeds in a single direction farther away. Battle shunshin allowed one to move at high speeds in shorter, zig zag lines. Crashing into things was a big danger with Battle Shunshin, but it could be done.

Naome figured out that if she got used to travelling at higher speeds, she would be better able to control the shunshin and prevent breaking her nose against trees.

_A Week and Two Days Later!_

At the moment, Naome was leaning back on her couch half asleep with Shikamaru's head in her lap. How they got into this position, she wasn't really sure. All she knew was she didn't feel like moving and Shikamaru was asleep.

They had the apartment to themselves, a rare thing now Haku was here. Hikaru was with Yoshino, Haku had apparently gone to meet his potential future brides, and her bunshins were either training with chakra sensing or looking up stuff about Orochimaru.

So far she had learned he was fifty years old, had been kicked out for doing experiments on konoha civilians, babies, animals, and just about anything that breathed, oh and he was also searching for jutsu that would make him immortal. How crazy was this guy?

He was one of the sannin, given the title by Hanzo the Salamander. His summons were snakes, which is probably where he got the epiphet. He was known for being a smooth talker. He had taken an apprentice during his time in Konoha, before defecting.

She shook herself awake and thought more along that line. Anko-nee had been that apprentice, but according to the report Zoro read she had been kidnapped then abandoned by him after being given the Curse Mark. There had been a short description but it didn't help much.

She had known, in a kind of detached back-of-the-mind way, that Anko was connected to him in the past. She had known it in the same back-of-the-mind way she knew the sky was blue and the Sun rose in the east. It was just a fact of life, something to be acknowledged but not pondered on for long periods of time.

She wondered if Anko could give her more information on why Orochimaru would be after Sasuke. She could ask, but then she'd have to explain why she wanted to know about Orochimaru. She didn't want to worry the woman, she was just approaching the end of the first trimester!

Shikamaru had asked about the meeting but when she changed the subject she could see the glint in his eye. He knew right away she couldn't talk about it, he didn't ask again. He had been training too, he'd gotten better at Shadow Possesion and had almost mastered the Shadow Stich jutsu of his clan.

She blinked and looked down at her lap. He had fallen asleep maybe an hour ago. She'd been reading one of the scrolls from Gato's HQ, looking at a new wind jutsu, when she felt his head settle on her lap. She had asked what he was doing and he told her he was tired.

Tired was pretty severe for a Nara. Tired meant exhausted, unable-to-keep-eyes-open exhausted. Had he really been training so hard? Had Chouji been training hard too?

Shika let out a small snore and she smiled a little, holding in a giggle. He looked cute when his usual annoyed scowl lifted, like a kid almost. Shikamaru's hair was in its tie, she didn't want to risk waking him up just to play with his hair. He was wearing the same kind of outfit he wore everyday.

She couldn't understand why he only wore that same outfit. Didn't he ever get bored of wearing the same thing everyday? She liked switching colors and styles every day! It was like a game to see what kind of outfit she could put together in the morning.

She didn't like shopping, but she loved clothes. Today she was wearing a green cardigan and sweat pants, her hair done up in two pig tails. Her bangs covered most of her hitaite and dipped to shadow her eyes. Her face had lost any baby fat that had clung during the pregnancy. She looked a bit older, albeit very shorter, for her age.

Naome glanced up at the clock on the wall, he'd been asleep for an hour and thirty minutes now. Maybe she should go to sleep too?

She shook her head and her mind wandered to something that had happened four days ago. She had gone to Anko's apartment because the woman hadn't been by that day and found out that Anko had agreed to marry Kakashi-sensei.

_Four Days Ago, Anko's Apartment!_

Anko was crying when she came in. Naome had immediately asked what was wrong, did something happen to the baby, but Anko only grinned. She was crying for joy and she showed Naome a very familiar ring.

She had enveloped her older sister in a hug and asked the date. They were planning for the wedding to be small, the other jounin sensei, Naome, Hikaru, Shikamaru and Chouji, Haku, the Hokage, and a couple others would be present, along with the pastor.

Anko was a little overwhelmed though, and planning the wedding for just after the chunin exams were scheduled to end was ambitious. Of course, Anko wanted to plan the wedding herself, down to the little details.

Still, Anko decided a little help from a certain blonde good at getting things done was appreciated. They sat down to pen and paper, listing things needed. Anko would first make invitations and go shopping for kimono, while Naome would arrange for food and flowers from the Akimichi and Yamanakas respectively.

_Present Day!_

Shikamaru wasn't really asleep. Sure, he was tired and sleep was always welcome, but he wasn't sleeping. Shikamaru was a very patient person though, so lying with his head in Naome's lap for a couple hours was okay in his books.

Still, if he was going to confess he needed to do it soon, before the troublesome exam they had both been signed up for. It would be troublesome but maybe he'd give it a shot. Naome would be annoyed if he did anything less, although he'd definitely give up if he came against her. She was way too troublesome to fight.

Several times for the past hour he had almost gathered up his courage to speak up but then Naome would absently shift a little and he'd falter. Curse this troublesome girl and her troublesome timing! Why was this so much more troublesome than his dad made it look when he went into lovey dovey mode with his mom?

He was finally about to say it, opening his mouth to do so even, when the door opened. He silently cursed the troublesome gods but opened his eyes and turned his head to see the door.

"Am I interrupting?" Anko had gotten into the habit of dropping by unannounced. Even more so than she did before. Shikamaru guessed it was because of a combination of boredom from being on leave and nervousness over the wedding.

"Anko-nee, you woke him up! I was just about to draw on his face!" Shikamaru blinked then looked up suspiciously to see a felt marker hovering over his face. Why that troublesome-!

"Oops." Anko chuckled, catching the dirty look the Nara gaki shot at her imouto. She had been just a tiny bit paranoid lately since the Nara gaki was getting into the habit of lying too close to the orange loving blonde.

If she had to make a couple rude intrusions until she found a chance to draw the smitten Nara away for a 'talk', then so be it! She was willing to sacrifice her free time to protect her imouto! So says the great and sexy Anko Mitarashi!

"Oh well, there's always next time!" Naome giggled. She was going to see how long it would take for him to figure out he had whisker marks and big eye lashes drawn on his face!

"Troublesome girl." Shikamaru yawned, sitting up. With his head free from her lap she stood up and stretched. Her legs had gone kind of numb after sitting for so long.

Shikamaru meanwhile was cursing his luck and wishing he had just spoken up sooner. Why was the universe conspiring against him like this? This meant he only had a few more days to tell her before the exams started, but he didn't want to possible distract her, since the chunin exams were known for being dangerous.

He almost convinced himself to just keep quiet until he realized he was chickening out. Man this was way too troublesome to deal with. Why couldn't there be some clouds to look at right now?Then he could just blank his mind clean of all troublesome thoughts about a certain nameless, troublesome girl.

Naome sighed before clicking the lid onto her marker. She'd been so close too! Curse Anko-nee's bad sense of timing!

"Oi gaki, have you talked to the Akimichi about the food yet?" Anko asked, coming up with the perfect cover for her little visit.

"Yeah, just yesterday after you left. They'll deliver it to the church for the reception!" She reported happily. She had made the appointment under her Zoro bunshin so that they wouldn't recognize her. One could never be too careful!

"Shouldn't you and Nara gaki be training for the exams?" She would have been the proctor of the second exam but what with being on leave and all, it just wasn't a good idea.

"Probably, but learning something entirely new at this point won't do us any good." Shikamaru acknowledged. The best thing to do so close to the exam was relax and come up with some strategies.

"True." Anko nodded sagely, preparing to dish out ancient shinobi wisdom.

"So long as you kick as many asses as physically possible you should do fine." Ancient shinobi wisdom indeed.

_Suna Kazekage Tower!_

Orochimaru, in his guise as Kazekage, was busy thinking of all the things he hoped to accomplish in Konoha. He had just recieved a report from Kabuto that he would be meeting this mysterious Nina right after the Second Exam, after placing his mark on the boy. This was good, he was interested in meeting such an old woman.

Nina was older than his sensei, had probably been around since just before the hidden villages, which explained why she didn't belong to one. The child Kabuto spoke of could be explained as well but he'd need some of Naome-chan's blood along with the sample of Hikaru's that Kabuto collected in order to test his theory.

Nina had also told Kabuto that his old apprentice was pregnant and on maternity leave. Orochimaru was interested in studying the famed Hatake White Chakra, it was very unusual and undoubtedly more potent than normal chakra. He would see about visiting his old student but he'd wait a couple years before stealing away the child.

He had no use for an infant. Let Anko raise the child, when he or she was old enough to unlock their chakra he would appear and sweep them away to Oto. There he could experiment and possible mass produce a synthetic form of the White Chakra.

Nina herself was an oddity, someone who's brain he would love to pick. She could be a veritable gold mine of knowledge, and not just on Konoha. According to Kabuto Nina had only come to Konoha in disguise about two years ago, before then she must have lived in another shinobi village.

He would have to watch himself around her though, just as he would have to watch himself around his sensei. The elderly were wise from their experiences of the world, and patient. Nina would more than likely keep any important nuggets of information to herself to use later, either against him or against Konoha.

Getting her on his side would be a side project, but for the moment he was content to simly pay his way into her graces. Sensible women like Nina could find plenty of uses for a few hundred thousand ryo.

However, old women could also be manipulated. Nina didn't seem to have any family of her own, and had more or less adopted the resident jinchuriki and an infant. More than likely using them to replace lost loved ones, or perhaps they were actually descendants of her's that she was watching over.

Whatever the case, perhaps he'd get not one, but two interesting people for Oto in the future. A future vessal and a jinchuriki would aid his plans greatly. From what Kabuto had gathered the girl was even more powerful than Sasuke-kun, and no doubt the infant would grow into his own given time.

He looked down at the paperwork he was meant to be doing and wished vainly for the secretaries back in Oto. In Oto he didn't have to do any pathetic paperwork like this. Tax claims, property leases, adoption certificates? Why did a kage need to know _everything_ about their village?

_One Day Before Chunin Exams Begin!_

Naome whistled a little tune she had stuck in her hand as she carried her groceries home. She had gone shopping as herself, just as a quick experiment, and found that the people weren't overcharging her! Well, not nearly as much as they used to.

Maybe they were finally starting to see something under the title jinchuriki? Did that rumor about her C-rank do this? Last she heard she had somehow cured an incurable disease of some kind in a tiny country while single handedly protecting her team from infection.

"I wonder if I should do something about that rumor?" She muttered as she turned a corner into a side street. She gasped and nearly dropped all her groceries but they were caught by a boy wearing a black jumpsuit.

"Sorry, didn't see ya there miss." Naome blinked for a moment before subtly checking if she had somehow henged into Ran without noticing. She accepted her bags from the boy and smiled thankfully.

"Thanks for the save, and it's okay I wasn't watching where I was going either." His eyes were a little too low to be looking her in the eyes. Naome frowned a little when she realized she was wearing a skin tight dark blue v-neck.

"Kankuro, no flirting with the competition!" Naome looked behind the jumpsuit boy to see a blonde girl about a year older than her, carrying a large battle fan on her back. She did not look amused.

"You guys are from Suna? Here for the chunin exams?" These were genin who would be her competition, and more importantly her enemy, when the exams and invasion began. She should be careful around them.

"Are you entering?" The girl asked conversationally.

"Yup! I'm Naome Uzumaki by the way!" She said, introducing herself politely.

"I'm Temari and this is my brother, Kankuro. I guess we'll see you tomorrow then?" Naome smiled and nodded.

"Ano, parden me but are you a wind affinity?" The large battle fan seemed to imply such, but it never hurt to be cautious.

"Yeah, why?" She answered suspiciously. Naome noticed that Temari had a Tell in her left eye, when she glanced down a little, as though to see through her pouch and count her kunai.

"I am too! I recently finished the elemental manipulation training!" She wondered if Temari would catch her subtle warning. _I am Dangerous. Watch Yourself!_

Temari's eyes narrowed and Naome read her face like an open book. She'd been right. After dealing with A-rank missing nin genin wouldn't be a problem. It was dividing the genin from the sannin in disguise that would be hard.

"Elemental training? No way! Temari hasn't even gotten started on that! Its way too advanced!" Kankuro cried out recklessly. Naome smirked inwardly as she found a potential weakness before the exams had even begun.

"Is that so? Maa, well it'll be interesting to fight against a fellow wind affinity! I'll see you at the exams then, shall I?" She adjusted her grip on her groceries and walked past them. As she was going though she put her new chakra sensing to good use.

"Oh, and your teammate up in the tree should be careful, we wouldn't want him to _fall_, would we?" She didn't really notice the ambiguity of this statement. However, Temari caught on very quickly.

_'She emphasised fall. Does Konoha know about the invasion? If so, why does this genin know?'_ She cursed her younger brother for blabbing about the rate of her training. Now that girl had a better idea of her skill set and was higher skilled to match. Why didn't he just finish off the job and told her that Gaara's weakness was water and his was termites while he was at it?

Her heart beat faster when Gaara appeared in front of her, almost directly behind the Konoha genin who was still just walking away.

"Naome Uzumaki, kaa-san wants your blood." Naome froze in place and cursed the groceries in her hands for not being stuff she could use as a bludgeon. Only bread and eggs! Damn, she couldn't hit a potential enemy with bread and eggs!

"Kaa-san? Why does your kaa-san want the village pariah's blood?" She asked calmly. Stating her social status may not have been necessary, but it put a certain amount of oomph into her statement.

"She says she can hear your demon." Her heart was beating mad but her face was completely blank. He knew about her demon? How?

"Who is your kaa-san?" Naome had to_ fight _to keep a tremor out of her voice. Forget genin being easy, suddenly she missed fighting Zabuza.

**End of the chapter! I tried to finish it as soon as possible for you guys!**

LC; Well, when I started this new chapter the fic only had 85 reviews.

Naruto; Now it has over 110.

Sasuke; She is very sorry for keeping everyone waiting and would like to formally apologize.

LC; Yeah, I'd like to, but I won't.

Naruto; Why not? You should!

LC; I should...But I won't.


	6. FUBAR

LC; I decided to start on a new chappy!

Naruto; She's on a roll at the moment and is worried about stopping the momentum.

LC; So now we move on, to chapter six!

Sasuke; I can't believe how popular this fic is!

Naruto; Yeah, nearly fifty reviews for one chapter is a little extreme.

LC; Don't say that! You'll discourage them!

Sasuke; Yeah Naruto, then she'll be mad at us.

Naruto; Nani? Us?

LC; You share author space, you share punishment.

Disclaimer; I do not Own Naruto! Not AT ALL! Damn! My life sucks so much suck. Why can't I own something so cool?

Chapter 6; All For One and One For All.

"My Kaa-san is the one tail, Shukaku." This was worth way more than an everday curse. This was worth a curse straight from the brothel across the street from her apartment. Fucking no good shitty cum dumpster!

"...Shukaku eh? How nice for you. What is your name though?" She asked levelly, turning around to face this enemy. A jinchuriki like her? One who so easily revealed his status to a complete stranger?

His face was blank, not calm and collected like her blank face, but devoid of any emotion at all, even apathy. It was just a doll, a walking talking figurine playing at being a real boy. He had a gourd on his back and Naome could see storage seals along the outside rim, it must hold a lot of whatever it held.

"My name is Gaara Subaku. What is your demon?" This was bad. Could he use his demon's chakra? She had only drawn on it once and had nearly lost herself in blood lust! No way was she risking it now! Not in the middle of her village!

"Kyuubi no Kitsune." With that she started to walk away again and prayed he wouldn't follow her.

"Naome Uzumaki, you shall make me feel alive." Gaara seemed to decide, just within earshot of the blonde.

Naome got home and was relieved to find the bunshin she left with Hikaru hadn't noticed anything strange. Haku was probably out training or gathering herbs or something, he'd been gone since she woke up. She wondered what he was doing right now.

She put away her groceries and played patty cake with her son. She'd probably need to start potty training him after the chunin exams. When she had more time. He was really smart, he'd probably understand in no time at all. He was already asking about the toilet.

"Kaachan, go to park?" She blinked out of her reverie and smiled. That was just what the doctor ordered on a day like this!

"Okay Hikaru-chan, we'll go to the park if you can find your other shoe." He lost it early that morning and so far she hadn't been able to find it.

They found the shoe and she helped Hikaru brush his hair before they left. She didn't henge into Ran, even though she saw his eyebrows scrunch together adorably when she walked out with him as herself.

"Hikaru-chan, I can't always play dress up can I?" She joked. He smiled up at her and her entire world lit up. Yeah, that was her reason for wearing the hitaite. So she could protect that smile and let it shine for years to come.

"What a surprise, Naome-san." They were at a larger park, one that had lots of trees and flowers and such for children to play in. Naome eeped and turned around to see Scar, well his name was actually Danzo but Scar fit better, walking up besider her and leaning heavily on a cane.

"Danzo-sama, not to be rude but what are the odds of running into you here?" She greeted him politely, if not warmly. The guy still rubbed her the wrong way, but if hokage-jiji trusted him she'd have to as well, about as far as she could throw him.

"I was out for a walk when I saw you here. Is this the son you spoke of?" Hikaru was building a little mountain of dirt and placing leaves on top. She wondered idly what he was trying to make. A mud pie?

"Hai, this is Hikaru Uzumaki-chan." She answered.

"Ah, I see." He said with his usual grave voice. Naome wondered if he was so old all his emotions had been bleached out. However, hokage-jiji was just as old and he was a warm hearted old man.

"Do you have any idea when you will sign him up for the academy?" Danzo asked curiously. He'd had his Ne follow Hikaru around, just to try and see if anything about him was _different_, and they found he was far more intelligent than his peers. He was much more intelligent.

"More than likely at seven, the usual starting age. Why?" She knew why. Hikaru-chan was far more than just talented. Her son could really be a genius, no two ways about it. If he kept learning at this rate he'd have the potential to make genin at five!

"He would be a great asset to the tree of Konoha. In a year or so you should get him tested for early enrollment." Danzo advised, sounding almost like he was praising her rather than her son.

Naome couldn't read this guy, as was so often the case with those more powerful than her. Those more experienced, who could hide their emotions and thoughts as well as if not better than she. She couldn't tell if he was trying to help her or hurt her.

"I think I might. I'd like him to protect this village with everything he has someday." It would be best if he believed she was willing to compromise. If she sounded like she'd think about his idea, he might stop pushing so hard.

"You are very talented Naome-san, but you are held back more often than not." They sat side by side, a foot or so apart, on a stone bench as they watched Hikaru play. At the moment he was chasing a butterfly and laughing like it was the funniest joke he'd ever heard whenever it slipped through his fingers.

"I will be strong however I must Danzo-sama. If I have to train everyday, then I see it as time well spent!" She wasn't smiling. Her face wasn't blank, he might think something was up if it were, but she wasn't smiling.

Danzo was impressed with the girl's knowledge on psychology. She had obviously worked on removing her Tells, although one had gotten through. She didn't look at him, only at her son...normally. However when she spoke about the early enrollment her head would tilt a little to the side.

Normally this was the kind of expression connected to thoughtfullness or confusion, maybe both. When Naome used it though she was already talking about thinking about it, so unless she conciously did the gesture to emphasise her point, or her body reacted because of the opposite. She was definitely choosing not to think about it.

He knew she had attended the seminar Ibiki Morino held at the Academy, but as far as Ne was aware after asking a couple questions she hadn't pursued the study. Then again she did vanish numerous times, who was to say Ran was her_ only _physical henge.

When he mentioned her being held back he carefully gauged her reaction. She had stared intently at her son chasing a butterfly, but he could see her eyes darken a little. Darken with what was the hundred ryo question though, as it could be many things.

He knew Hatake didn't teach them much, except for the Uchiha of course, so it could be because of that. She could be thinking of her years in the academy before being reassigned to Iruka Umino's room for the final two years. She could be thinking about occurances he didn't even know about.

Her reply was worded interestingly. She'd be as strong as she must be, but no stronger? How strong did she consider enough? To become hokage, as she used to tell anyone when she was younger and more naive?

"I hope to speak with you again Naome-san, it was a pleasure." He bade his farewell and shifted to his feet. He thought briefly about playing the frail old man and grumbling about his aging bones, but he doubted she'd buy that. Naome-san didn't seem like a peace loving fool, but one could never be sure.

Naome waited until she was sure he was gone before she relaxed. Her eyes closed for a moment and she wondered if she should have told the council member about the jinchuriki she met earlier. It was too late now, but she'd get around to it when she finished the second exam and met Orochimaru.

Now though, she collected her son and they walked home for dinner in silence. She wanted to get a good night's rest before the chunin exams began in the morning. She'd be meeting the rest of team seven at the academy at nine, where the first test was being held. She wondered what they might be asked to do.

The next day she slept in. Oh it wasn't by much, she had enough time to make five bunshins, one to watch Hikaru, one to henge into a necklace, and two to stand by near the academy, but she had slept in nonetheless.

Because she slept in, she didn't have time to make herself breakfast or to properly shower. It was get in, wash hair, jump out in a towel, locate clothing. She ended up choosing a brown tank and some mini-shorts, along with her usual sandals, hitaite, and the bunshin necklace.

Her now shoulder length hair was tied up into two short pig tails and she briefly admired her reflection before leaving her apartment. Haku was gone again before she even woke up. Where was he? She hadn't actually seen him in a couple days too, although she knew he came home every night from the fact her dishes would mysteriously be done every morning.

She landed in front of the academy and straightened up to greet her teammates. Sakura had her hair up in a pony tail, which had become the norm, and was wearing a darker red shirt and dark brown shorts. Sasuke was in his usual blue and white combo but he looked rather pleased and excited. Naome could guess why.

After returning to Konoha, he had waited three days before signing the contract and making the signs. Naome wasn't sure what kind of test he had passed, but when he had come to training after their week off followed by a tabby the size of a small bear, she knew he'd passed it.

Of course, from what he heard it required a bit of chakra, but he was working on getting more chakra. He guessed he'd have enough chakra to summon the boss without passing out within a few months, if he trained every day. Naome intended to help him.

"Are we all ready?" She asked, not really needing an answer. Sakura had never looked so confident, Sasuke so at ease, and she herself was resolute. Whatever would happen in the course of this exam would happen, and all she could do was push forward and hope for the best, preparing for the worst, and praying to be pleasantly surprised.

"Well let's get going then! After the chunin exams are over there's some stuff I need to talk to you guys about!" She'd wait before saying anything about the fuzzball, but Hikaru was another matter. She wanted her team to know him.

"What about?" Ever since signing that contract, he'd been trying to act differently. His test to summon the Cats was become as they were, meaning he had to move like a cat, eat like a cat, sleep like a cat, and learn to fight like a cat. At the end of five days he had been announced acceptable, and a tabby cat named Kyo had followed him home because she wanted to meet his teammates.

They, over their last week, had made a plan. Not just one plan, but about a dozen of them. Plan A was to show everyone what they expected, a team of rookie genin with the last Uchiha and two girls. If this failed Naome would be taking over as team leader as the sadistic-slightly-insane-violent-bitch captain of team fucking-awesome-seven. Naome liked that plan, it sounded fun.

They entered the academy and climbed to the third floor before Sakura gasped and grabbed them by the back of their shirts. Naome and Sasuke managed to hide their surprise for the most part ("EEP!) but Sakura managed to waylay them.

"This a genjutsu! Probably to get rid of the weaklings!" She whispered quietly. Naome looked again and blinked, then blinked again. Sakura was right, she only climbed one set of stairs!

"It would be smart to leave them to fail, but plan A." Sasuke sighed. He didn't want to waste his time with this, they had to be on the third floor in thirty minutes, but they needed to look like rookies.

"I don't like it either. Who should go in?" It was a toss up between Sasuke and Sakura. Sakura had actual knowledge on genjutsu and would probably be able to intimidate some of the competition by listing several reasons at once why this genjutsu sucked. Sasuke had his cool eyes though, which would also dishearten a few people.

"Sasuke-kun should go!" Well, Sakura decided for them. Naome shrugged and they followed thier Uchiha up to the two chunin guys in disguise.

"Oi, drop the illusion and let us go to the third floor!" He ordered briskly, belatedly wondering if the two chunin would want a fight in this crowded corridor.

"You really think your smart gaki?" The first chunin challenged, taking a fighting stance. Naome realized she knew these guys. They had been the ones to fetch her for the meeting with the hokage and his advisors and that Jiraiya sannin guy!

"Kotetsu, Izumo, why are you two disguised as chunin?" She asked cluelessly, earning several What-The-Fuck faces from those around her.

"Eh, you recognized us!" Izumo sighed in exasperation before smacking his partner upside the head. It was too late anyway, the kids had all dispelled the genjutsu and were running up the stairs like a bunch of wild heathens.

"You only made yourselves shorter." She pointed out before leaving with her team.

"How do you know them?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Remember my pranking days? Well, those two used to chase me all across the village afterwards." She answered. Actually, that was true, but up until the meeting with the hokage she had never learned their names.

"Hold up, Sasuke Uchiha!" Team seven froze before as one they turned to see who had called their 'leader' out. It was Lee, the boy who lived next door to Tenten and who always changed Hikaru-chan into green outfits when he was on the D-rank at the Day Care.

Really, at this point seeing the zombie of the Yellow Flash would be a blessing. At least then she'd know she had no sanity left and could live happily wearing an I-Love-To-Hug-Myself jacket.

"I challenge you!" Naome nearly groaned. If there was one thing Sasuke didn't do, it was turn down a challenge. Although she had to admit, she was feeling a little jealous that nobody seemed to want to challenge her, although in hindsight she already had enough on her plate without a grudge match between genin to top it off.

"You know my name but I don't know your's." Sasuke grunted, obviously disgruntled with being held back from his goal again. What was it with people and trying to make him late? Did they want him to emulate Kakashi-sensei or something?

"I am Rock Lee of Konohagakure, will you fight with me?" The boy challenged again. Naome managed to temporarily put the spandex out of her mind to properly look at the genin. The spandex, as unfortunate at the porportioning was, let her see his clearly defined muscles and she had a feeling the bandages on his arms weren't for show.

They went into a side room that led into a gym where taijutsu spars were held for students and she waited by the sidelines with Sakura so the boys could lower the testosterone levels a bit. She wondered if someone would challenge her to a fight. She hoped so, she wanted a little competition and a new rival was never to be turned away. Sasuke was great, but she'd like someone she could actually talk to.

"Let us test the Flames of Youth!" Lee-san shouted. Naome raised a brow, she had often heard him tell Ran how Youthful she was but Naome never really understood it. Did he mean enthusiastic? Determinned? Actually being young? It could go just about any way really.

"And afterwards..." Naome absently scratched her cheek. She'd never heard Lee use an indoor voice. She had seriously doubted he had one.

"Sakura-chan, please go on a date with me!" There was his usual confident bellow. She giggled a bit while she watched Sakura dodge the flying kisses sent her way by the speedy green wearing boy.

"As if I'd go out with someone like you! I like Sasuke-kun!" Ah, and she had been making such strides to distance herself from fangirlish tendencies too. Naome ruefully shook her head in exasperation. She shouldn't have gotten her hopes up.

"And here I thought I'd get to meet and fight cool, stronger opponents too. Why am I ignored for my teammates?" She half sighed half mumbled to herself as the boys began moving. It really was no contest. The few times Ran had seen the boy use his speed, she had almost blinked and missed it. Sasuke, as much as it might pain her to admit it, was outmatched and badly.

Sakura ended up having to fun forward to catch Sasuke as something shocked Lee-san into stopping his finishing move. Which was a good thing in Naome's books, as it had looked particularly nasty.

"Lee, what has Gai-kun said about that move?" It was a turtle. Wait, why was there a turtle wearing a hitaite and speaking? She hadn't known animals could learn how to speak, let alone become shinobi. Was there an animal academy?

"Yosh, Lee-kun your Springtimes of Youth has run dry! To rectify this and bring your Youth to New Levels you must run, run five hundred laps around the village!" And there was Gai-san, who Ran had made the mistake of thinking was the boy's father. It was a simple mistake, and neither had been upset about it, but she had certainly been disturbed.

For those two to be so close and look so much alike, and then not be relate at all, disturbed her greatly. She had taken to curbing Hikaru-chan's visits to the Day Care lately simply because she feared Youth getting to her son. It was bad enough that he kept coming home wearing green onesies, if she came to pick him up and found him wearing spandex she would not be held responsible for her actions.

Luckily Naome was able to read the warning signs, Ran having been subjected to what was about to happen too many times when she invited team nine to dinner. She could still hear the crashing of waves as she pushed her teammates out the door as quickly as possible with both eyes closed. Sunset jutsu, clearly the most disturbing/ingenious technique, deadly in fact.

"I'm glad to see you all made it here!" There was their chronically tardy sensei with an addiction to porn rivaling Gai's addiction to spandex. Their wonderful, almost but not quite normal, sensei who did not wear too tight spandex which left _nothing_ to the imagination.

"Kakashi-sensei, I'm glad you aren't Youthful." She said with every possible ounce of honesty in her body. She wasn't sure she could've handled a sensei like that, no matter how good a teacher he was.

"Ah, you met Gai didn't you?" Three sets of nods. Kakashi inwardly shuddered and hoped his poor, innocent students' eyes had not been raped by the sunset jutsu. That was a genjutsu that could break a grown man.

"Sadly." Sakura had made the mistake of looking back, just to see why Naome was trying to push them out, and she had glimpsed the dreaded sunset genjutsu. Now she knew where the saying _If one sees Two Green Beasts and hears the crashing waves, run._ It was a saying she had first heard during her last year as an academy student, which was right after Lee must have graduated.

With that, Kakashi bade them good luck and advised them to stick together. Naome was a little curious why he would bring that one up, but after he left, she held up her team one more time. It never hurt to be careful, and as they were literally walking into the unknown where she at least knew for a fact an S-rank nin waited for them, she figured they should be prepared.

"Guys, just for the exams, we need something to set us apart. Something to make sure no body can impersonate one of us." It only took a moment for Sakura to think of something. The pinkette suggested that they should each wear something that belonged to someone else. Sakura donated a pink hair clip to Naome, Naome donated the bunshin necklace (Now henged into a simple cross on a chain) to Sasuke with orders to dispel it in case of trouble, and Sasuke donated his arm warmers.

If they were seperated and later managed to join up again, to prove who they were they had to say what object they were wearing and who gave it to them. With this method, it would be difficult to copy them since there wasn't a way for someone to impersonate one of them.

With that they opened the door and stepped into the fourth dimension. Naome was seriously starting to reconsider her expectations on the exam being cake compared to her first S-ranked mission coming up. Genin, genin, as far as the eye could see and not a single kind look. In fact all of the foreign and older genin were glaring at her team!

"That won't do at all." She mumbled before brushing past her teammates to stand between them and any potential threats.

"Oi, listen up all who bear a grudge against Konoha, if you would be so kind as to form a neat and orderly line we shall commence with the main event, ass-kicking!" Hey, she was nervous and when she was nervous her louder tendencies tended to take over. They should be happy she didn't offend their virgin ears while she was at it.

"You rookies are causing a great deal of trouble aren't you?" _Wait a minute,_ he was _here!_ Kabuto Yakushi and his two friends whos' names she'd forgotten, was approaching her with what she could only describe as casual snootyness. They thought they were so much better than they were, well he was probably right. After all, despite her impressive henge she didn't really hold anything too impressive or unique that would count as a threat to them.

"Who the fuck are you?" Yeah, she was more nervous. Had he mentioned being in the exams to Ran? She couldn't remember! Damnit! This was supposed to be the easy part!

"I'm Kabuto Yakushi, a genin who has taken these exams before and knows what to expect." He answered cooly. Naome turned her head slightly away from him, she didn't want to accidentally let her recognition show. The best thing to do was act the hot headed rookie, like he expected her to be.

"Hey, you guys are here too?" The rest of the rookies were here as well. She knew team ten had entered, but she hadn't seen team eight since their last day at the academy. Good to see nothing had changed.

Ino managed to glue herself to Sasuke, despite or because of Sakura's ire, and Naome subtly moved closer to Shika and Cho. She needed all the moral support she could gain, even if the two didn't know the real reason she was worried.

Kabuto showed them his nin info cards, normally she wouldn't care about that since they seemed harmless enough, but she knew who this guy really was. A double agent working for Orochimaru. He had info on one of their genin, Rock Lee, that he should not have, and what's more he had data on a foreign nin.

He might be able to explain away Lee's info, after all he was probably listed in the archives, but a foreign ninja was another matter. He shouldn't have any feasable knowledge on that Gaara fellow.

Gaara, she hesitantly looked to a corner of the room where the read head and his siblings stood against the wall. He was staring at her, she stared back. He eventually looked away to address a teammate, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

Gaara's main weapon was sand he carried around in a gourd, he'd gone on B-ranked and one A-ranked missions and come home without a scratch, and on top of what Kabuto had told them she knew something else as well. Gaara was a jinchuriki.

"Alright shrimps, take a number and grab a seat!" She had been distracted and never noticed when Ibiki-san and some chunin had shunshined into the room. She mentally kicked herself for that, she needed to work on her awareness more. Being able to sense chakra signatures wouldn't matter if she didn't keep track of them.

Her seat number was fifteen and she was seated next to Shikamaru. Sakura was seated upwards and a little to the right a couple of rows. Sasuke was ahead of her, in the front row and directly in the middle.

The instructions for the test was given and she found herself a little put off. Two points off for getting caught cheating, and encouragments not to get caught? Why didn't they just say not to cheat period?

She wondered why the emphasised cheating so much until she flipped over the paper on her test. These questions were impossible! Well, actually the codes weren't hard at all and the one question on seal structures wasn't too difficult, it was only a standard low level containment seal.

She answered the two coded questions, which although more advanced than the ones learned in the academy, was pretty straight forward for someone who enjoyed doing these kinds of things. Zoro often looked at codes while he was in the library and had nothing better to research and he had access to places she didn't.

The question about the containment seal was to find a way to break it without harming the hostage trapped inside the perimeter. It wasn't so much complicated as it was delicate. One wront move could lead to nearly a hundred catastrophies. Luckily, Naome studied them extensively after learning of her status.

If there was ever a time when the Kyuubi's chakra started to seep out and she was possessed, she carried on her person several containment tags cued into her signature. If the amount of foreign chakra ever over balanced the amount of human chakra, the tags would activate and forcibly siphon off the excess.

Of course, it was untested. The one time she accidentally drew on the chakra she hadn't been able to use it, mostly because a senbon had sliced through it, breaking up the array so it was useless.

The point though, was that she knew containment seals, she knew them and understood them. So it was easy to write down the steps that had to be taken to let the captive free without doing any harm. With that done, she glanced around the room to see how her teammates were doing. After all, they all needed to pass.

Sasuke was using his fancy eyes to copy off a guy next to him, he kept flickering the sharingan off and on though, which was probably because proctors kept looking at him. Luckily they didn't catch him or they'd lose points fast. Sakura was speeding through the answers, apparantly someone like her, a bookworm, could answer them with no trouble at all. How did she get chunin-testing-for-jounin level information though?

Naome looked at the other blank questions on her paper and felt her spirtits dampen. She had no way to cheat without being caught. She made a mental note to ask Kakashi-sensei for some surveillence techniques if she survived the chunin exams.

The blonde Uzumaki forcefully shook her head. She _would_ survive! No way was she going to start on the quitter thoughts! She'd get through this just like she got through everything else in her life, by being strong and clever!

Now obviously, thoughts along these lines were distracting. So distracting in fact she only came out of her daze when she felt her body sieze up and move out of her control. Instinctively fighting it she realized it was the kagemane jutsu and relaxed.

Her body moved, still without her consent, to pick up the pencil and words fell onto the page. Answers to questions she knew she'd never be able to answer normally. While she was writing, Naome made sure to memorize the questions and their answers. It might come in handy some day, and knowledge was always helpful.

If it weren't for his bestfriend Shikamaru would've drowned in a puddle of his own drool when Naome first walked through the door. What was she doing, coming in too-short shorts and a tanktop to a dangerous exam with a bunch of foreigners running around? Did she want to be attacked by a crazed genin?

Chouji had snapped him out of it though, and just in time because Naome moved to stand next to him after the rookies had met up. She looked nice, he couldn't deny that her outfit had given her quite the impression amongst the genin. Although it wasn't really very good.

He finished filling out the answers and released Naome from his kagemane jutsu. He didn't look over at her, even though he wanted to know if she was smiling at him or if she was upset about being taken over like that. He didn't look at her because he could see one of the proctors staring pointedly at him and he nervously waited for the call to say he had failed and he and his team had better leave before they were thrown out.

He wasn't called out though, and the proctor's gaze shifted, and he breathed a sigh of relief. This time he did look, but only for a second. Naome Uzumaki, the most troublesome girl he'd ever had the pleasure and pain of knowing was sleeping like a baby.

Ibiki had paid special attention to Naome Uzumaki. He remembered her curious questions on the art of interrogation, and just watching her he could tell she had definitely taken his advice to heart. She didn't have a Tell that revealed how she answered those three questions, he could assume she already knew the answers. She didn't give away the Nara's trick, hardly even flinched.

Hokage-sama had informed Inoichi and himself about her unique circumstances and he realized now why she must've attended his semenar. Learning to lie was a big subject in the books he had suggested to her and it seemed she had practiced them religiously. She had talent, maybe a future in infiltration and interrogation.

Of course he also knew about what she was planning to do by the end of the week. He wasn't sure if she'd survive or not but she had a talent for that too. If she did survive, and thus succeed, he would be there as she reported everything Orochimaru told her. He'd take that chance to offer her a place in T&I after she made chunin.

Ten minutes before the end of the test, he called for all the shrimps to put up their pencils. It was time for the do or die question. He wondered if Naome would get it, if she'd been informed how to pass this test with no problems or if she was going by the seat of her pants.

"Before I ask the final question, is there anyone who doesn't want to answer it?" He saw several confused looks, one coming from the blonde he'd been thinking about. She hadn't been informed, this might be interesting.

"Why wouldn't we?" It was the boy wearing the cat-like jumpsuit who used the puppet trick to cheat. That had been clever, but not fullproof.

"Heh, because if you answer wrong, you and your teammates will never be allowed to take the chunin exams again." An immidiate uproar followed his pronouncement. He had more or less expected this. Testing the genin was always amusing, if a little headache inducing at times. It was funny to watch them run around like headless chickens.

"What are you talking about? There are genin here who took the exams before!" The Inuzuka growled down at him. Watching the genin panic was fun, having them shout accusations at you directly was annoying.

"Well, I guess you're unlucky since I'm the proctor this year. My test, my rules." After that Inuzuka had made his outburst Uzumaki's eyes had narrowed in suspicion and she looked at him pointedly before purposely looking at Yakushi. Ah yes, that was the spy. What conclusions was the Uzumaki girl drawing up in that head of her's.

"If you choose not to take the question though, you fail." He finished, pretending to glance around the room when his attention was really on the Uzumaki.

Naome's body was tensed and he could see a flickering uncertainty in her eyes when she looked between him and Kabuto. He could almost see the cogs in her head turning. Yakushi had failed seven times, twice a year for nearly four years, and Konoha got the exams every five years. In theory, that meant he had taken the exams in every hidden village, Konoha twice.

"Anyone who is not willing to take this question, raise your hand and you and your team will be escorted out." A few tense seconds in which the anxiety in the room could be cut with a kunai, and then one of his chunin plants raised his arm.

Just like that the floodgates were opened and genin left the room in swarms. Teams were escorted from the building before they would be told they had failed and would not be permitted to take the exams in Konoha again. They could take it in a foreign country later on though, if they so chose.

Naome Uzumaki didn't look nervous though. In fact, she was gazing sidelong at her Nara buddy who was currently shaking his head in the negative. Well this was interesting.

Without any preamble Naome stood up and silenced the whole room. She gestured for her teammate, the Uchiha, to follow her as she walked to where her other teammate, Haruno, was sitting.

"What do you think?" She asked them once they were clustered together in their little group. Ibiki was surprised, to say the least. Never in all his years of proctoring had he seen the genin team get back together in order to hold a mini war council.

"Isn't there some rule about taking the exams in a foreign country? We could do that, even if we can't answer the question." Sasuke said idly. Personally he was sure they could work out whatever answer this Ibiki Morino wanted. Asking if they wanted to take the question or not was only wasting time.

"I think we should go for it!" Sakura said, steadfastly loyal to Sasuke-kun. Personally she was confident. The test had been really easy for her so figured that this question wouldn't be too different either. They could do this!

"So we take the question then, 'mkay!" Naome grinned nonchalantly, throwing her arms behind her head as she turned back to the front of the classroom.

Everyone was _staring_ at them! Suddenly feeling very self concious, Naome glanced down to see if she was exposed or something but nothing seemed wrong with her outfit. Why were they staring at them? Did they do something weird? There wasn't any rules against it!

"The strange phenomona that was team seven had instilled confidence in the remaining teams. Ibiki needlessly waited another few seconds to see if anyone else would drop out but nobody moved beyond to join their own teams.

"Well then, if that's it...Congratulations, you all passed the first test of the chunin exams." He felt the urge to drop a pin to see if he could hear it clatter to the floor but he fought against it. He was too amused by their expressions of disbelief and anger, an interesting mixture that never failed to have his lips quirk up into a gruesome imitation of a smile.

Naome listened to Ibiki's sermon about impossible missions, the kind they might be expected to take when they were chunin. The kind that you couldn't turn down. This mission she was going on, she had been given a choice of whether or not to take it. If she had turned it down, what might have happened?

"You can come in now, Ebisu." Ibiki sighed at the door. Ebisu wasn't his first choice for an exam proctor, but he hadn't had much choice since Anko was out of comission.

"A rather lot passed." The special tutor sneered. The urge to play mind games on the toku-jounin was strong, but Ibiki held back. He could always whip something up after the exams.

"It doesn't matter, the numbers will be cut by half before I'm done with them." Naome recognized this particular jounin and wondered if he would still be prejudiced against her. She hoped his personal feelings wouldn't affect her passing options.

They were led to training ground 44, otherwise known as the Forest of Death. Ebisu tersely explained the rules, which was basically get the partner scroll and get all three teammates to the finish line in the center of the grounds. After that rivetting lecture, they were given waivers to sign so that Konoha would not be held responsible for any deaths.

Naome leaned back against a tree with her teammates standing on either side as she surveyed the group that would be their opponents. Teams to avoid were definitely Gaara's and Kabuto's. There was also some kusa genin she didn't feel right around. Especially the girl, who kept looking over her shoulder at them.

Her secondary objective was to protect Sasuke as best she could, that meant getting a scroll and dragging her team to the tower as quickly as possible, before Orochimaru could catch up to them. If she had to make a bet, she'd say he'd probably attack late into the first day, so that they'd have time to recover and get to the tower before the five day deadline.

With no way of knowing which teams had which scroll, she'd have to make make a guess and hoped her luck would hold out. Maybe they would strike gold and pick a weak team with the scroll they needed?

Team seven turned in their waivers and recieved a Heaven scroll, which meant they needed an Earth scroll. While in the tent, it was decided that a fake scroll with the same outer covering as the Heaven scroll would be given to Sasuke and the real scroll given to Sakura.

With that, they were led to gate 62 where they would wait until the starting whistle. Naome took a calculated risk of eavesdroppers before she spoke to her team.

"Guys, if we come against Gaara's, Kabuto's, or those Kusa teams, then get out of there." She said seriously.

"Why Kabuto-san's team? He seemed nice enough." Sakura questioned.

"He can't be trusted." She couldn't offer anything other than this, anymore and she might get all of them in trouble. She just hoped they'd trust her.

Sasuke had never seen Naome scared before. Not when they were up against an A-rank nin, not when they'd been signed up for the chunin exams. Naome was always grinning like a loon with a razor sharp tongue just beyond the facade. She was always in control, if not emotionless.

Now though, he saw Naome without her usual smiles or blank looks. This was Naome uncensored, an eleven year old girl who was strong enough to hold off a jounin, and she was scared.

Sasuke didn't consider himself a coward, but he did have some basic survival instincts. Right now those instincts told him that if there was something in this forest strong enough to scare Naome, he didn't want to meet it.

Five minutes before the whistle, Naome unsealed three pairs of wireless comlinks and gave two to her teammates. At least this way they could stay in contact, even seperated.

"If for whatever reason we are seperated, head straight for the tower. When we get in I'm going to spam bunshins who will then go out in teams to attack some teams to try and sniff out an Earth scroll." Now that the 'mission' was officially starting, Naome was taking charge.

The whistle was blown and the gates swung open. Team seven burst forward and upwards, into the trees and off like a rocket for the center. Naome's hands were already in the cross sign and bunshins were dropping like flies, using her unique henge to change into copies of Sasuke and Sakura as well.

She called for a halt and they settled down to wait for a team of bunshins to check in. Staying in one place was risky, but they'd have to take it. Besides, Naome needed to change.

Behind a tree, but still in ear shot of her teammates, she unsealed a new outfit. This outfit was a uniform black chainmail shirt, knee length black shorts, brown arm and shin guards, then blue shinobi sandals. Top it all off with her favorite leather jacket and she thought she was ready for whatever came at them.

After rejoining her team, she got an update from four bunshin teams. Two of them had been 'killed' by a barrage of kunai, one found a weak team with an Earth scroll, and the other team apparently thought it was funny to drop bunshin paint bombs on Kabuto's team. Hopefully he wouldn't come after her for that, since the bunshins had dispelled when they were out of sight.

"I know where a scroll is, let's go." With that they were off, heading northeast towards where the bunshins had dispelled. If they hurried they'd get there before that Kizu team woke up from the knock out tags.

They got there just in time and swiftly tied up the team before claiming their scroll. With this they had the two scrolls they needed. Now to get to the tower as soon as possible.

"We need to head straight for the tower." Sakura studied the back of Naome's jacket as they tree hopped. Naome had been acting strange since this morning, nervous and jumpy. Come to think of it, she'd been like this since Kakashi-sensei told them about the chunin exams.

"Naome, is something wrong?" She asked hesitantly. It really was out of character for Naome to be nervous about anything. What happened to her do or die attitude?

"I guess it's safe to tell you guys now we're alone, but we can't stop moving at all. We have to make a straight shot for the tower!" The pinkette nodded her understanding and they put on another burst of speed.

"Someone powerful is after Sasuke, and he's going to make his move in this forest. Orochimaru, the greatest traitor of Konoha, someone who experimented on human beings, babies, and made horrible monsters." At their current rate, they'd reach the tower somewhere around midnight. If they could keep it up anyway, she wasn't sure how good their stamina was.

"Why is he after me?" Sasuke scowled. He could guess, but it would be best to make sure.

"You're the last Uchiha, he wants your eyes! From the information I gathered, he'll use his secret Body Transfer jutsu to take control of your body!" That had been creepy.

"He's probably planning to put his Curse Mark on you, but other than corrupting your chakra and allowing him to gain control, I'm not sure what it does." Which was worrying, since she'd had Zoro look up that information. If Zoro couldn't find it that meant it was jounin level, which was very bad.

"So we try to get to the tower before he can catch up to us." Sasuke muttered. It was a sound plan, since they couldn't give away that they knew he was after them. This way they could have the protection of the multiple jounin waiting for their teams at the tower, and thus keep Orochimaru from obtaining him. But why did Naome know this?

"How'd you find out about this?" Sakura asked for him.

"...That ties in to things I need to talk to you about after the exams. I promise I'll tell you later, but for now I'd rather we not meet any snakes." She answered quietly, her words nearly lost to the wind that whipped past them.

After an hour, Naome spammed more bunshins to act as decoys. She wasn't taking any chances. Her chakra sensing skills were definitely coming in handy now. Everytime a team came too close she spammed bunshins.

"Naome how many times can you do that before exhausting yourself?" Sakura asked after the fifth time. By now some of her bunshins kept getting dispelled by wild animals and enemy teams.

"Never found a limit!" She answered back right away. Which was true. For some reason she could spam out hundreds of kage bunshins without feeling too tired afterwards. It was just another quirk of her's, probably gifted by that stupid fox in her gullet.

They stopped only once when a pack of giant tigers dropped from the branches above them but they were easily thrown off by another burst of speed. So the hours passed with the miles, until they were forced to stop before Sakura collapsed.

"S-Sorry." She panted, her legs shaking with the effort of keeping her upright. She had gone on for as long as possible but she couldn't keep going at such a pace like Sasuke-kun and Naome. She still needed training.

A poof later another bunshin was standing with it's back to her, gesturing for her to climb on. Sakura apologized again but accepted. They couldn't afford to stay in one place for too long. Before they darted off, Naome stumbled and fell to her knees.

"Naome!" Sakura gasped, jumping from the bunshin and quickly activating one of the medic jutsu she knew. It was just a simple diagnostic jutsu that revealed things like wounds or poisons.

"Sorry, but we_ have _to move!" Naome snapped. The bunshin slung Sakura over her shoulder and Sasuke followed the original as they made a wild dash away.

"Giant snake behind us and approaching fast, we got to lose it!" Naome reported, spamming more bunshins to act as decoys and to hopefully get rid of the enemy.

"We're maybe halfway to the tower, I'm going to drop back for a second but I'll catch back up. Sasuke, Sakura, be careful and don't slow down for anything. Remember the code!" The two didn't get a chance to protest before Naome was dropping below their eye line and down to the forest floor. She'd be waiting for whatever came her way and she was going to make sure they didn't get a chance to catch up to her team.

Naome set up a perimeter of exploding tags, and her secret weapon, prank tags. Prank tags exploded into a number of things, from neon color paints to a sticky goop found in the bowels of the village that could hold anything in place. She normally wouldn't use them during something as serious as this, but she figured she may as well pull out all the stops.

With that done, she concentrated on her chakra sense. Sasuke and Sakura had gotten pretty far but they seemed okay for now, her bunshin hadn't dispelled at least. Her eyes snapped open and she looked back into the forest, the direction she had come from.

Bunshins kept popping at regular intervals now. A giant snake had already been killed. What was more worrying though was that most of the bunshins dispelled without ever seeing who had attacked them. It was definitely time to move.

Naome felt another chakra join her teammates' and she slowed her pace and suppressed her chakra so she could go undetected. It would be better to see what was going on before jumping out. Once she reached their position, she'd go from there.

_Orochimaru's POV, Forest of Death._

By now Orochimaru was slightly irritated. In a normal person this was the equilavant of being royally pissed. He had gone on many wild goose chases after bunshins, and his summons had been killled, which would piss off Manda.

He had henged into that Naome girl upon discovering the original was strangely absent from Sasuke-kun. Ah yes, the last Uchiha looked to be just as strong as anticipated. It would be interesting to see how far along he was.

"Oi, wait up for a second!" He/She called out to the remainder of team seven. It appears the pink haired one must've been injured or something because a bunshin was carrying her. Good, he could afford to focus totally on Sasuke-kun then.

"Naome? The code?" The pinkette urged. This was new. They had never mentioned a code since appearing in the forest. Then again he might have missed it since he'd been tailing several different bunshin teams. How many was Naome-san capable of creating?

"..." He/She had hesitated for too long. Sasuke-kun threw several shuriken at him and activated his special eyes. Hmm, already at two tomoes? His eyes might be better than Itachi's.

"You aren't her." The last Uchiha stated simply. Orochimaru mentally praised the young shinobi for the emotional control he could see.

"Well, it seems the sharingan is just as sharp as the rumors said." The henge dissolved and he appeared again in the skin of the Kusa genin he had killed earlier. It was time to see what the last loyal Uchiha could do.

He released his KI and felt it was a little interesting to see the bunshin drop the pink haired girl and then fall to it's knees in front of her, partially blocking her from sight. He was even more interested when he saw Sasuke-kun shakily reach for the chain around his neck and make to tear it off. A reaction to nerves? Like how some people pushed their fingers together?

When the necklace popped he realized that something had happened as the smoke concealed all three for just a second. A second long enough for him to reel in his KI out of instinct and for two new puffs of smoke to appear before his target and the pink haired girl were replaced by two other Naome-san bunshins.

Well, this was unexpected. Unexpected, but intriguing. It seemed Nina-san's little project was more skilled then he'd been led to believe. Kabuto hadn't gotten much about her skills beyond kage bunshin and a talent for trickery and traps. This must be one of them.

The second passed and he quickly located his target again. Three of them, one well hidden to those under Toku-jounin level. The pink haired one had been taken in the opposite direction as Sasuke-kun and Naome-san though, and was accompanied by more bunshins who appeared to be leading her away.

_Naome's POV, With Sasuke in the Forest of Death!_

She was panicking. Her grip on her friend's wrist was like iron as they ducked and wove through the trees in a desperate bid to escape. Sakura had been seperated from them, but they'd meet up again soon, with luck. Naome didn't like her friends being on their own, especially against _that._

"Kukukuku, and where do you think you're going?" _Dear Kami_, she was being _brutally murdered!_ Again and again and _oh God her body burning!_

Naome bit down on her lip and drew blood, but it broke the illusion. She slowly turned, kunai in one hand, still holding Sasuke's wrist with the other. She flexed that hand, sending pain coursing through his hand so he was brought out of the same funk. They couldn't afford to be distracted.

"If we give you our Heaven scroll, will you leave?" Sakura had the scroll, but Sasuke had the copy. It was a good ploy, especially since Orochimaru couldn't open it to check to see if it was real or fake.

"That is the way of the weak, to bribe and barter for their lives from the strong." That wasn't a straight answer, but they weren't really looking for one. Realistically, the chances of getting away unscathed had never been very high.

"Naome-san, you gave me quite the chase. I'm glad I finally found the real Sasuke-kun." The blonde genin swallowed, feeling how dry her throat was. He wasn't dousing them in KI anymore but this feeling of _anticipation_ was almost as bad. Her muslces kept coiling then relaxing as nothing happened each passing second. Her heart felt like it might break through her ribcage at any moment.

Sasuke took the fake Heaven scroll from his pouch and tossed it to Orochimaru. Who then proceded to _eat_ it! Oh yeah, they were screwed.

She knew that Orochimaru really didn't care about the scroll one way or another, but it had given her some time to gather herself again. The loose ends of an idea were starting to twist together to form the thread of a thought.

"Defend yourself." He wasn't even paying attention to her. She could use that.

Naome sprang into action half a second before the sannin did. Two kunai, tied together by a length of ninja wire, found their ways into her hand and were shot into opposite directions just as the sannin sprang forward.

Timed well, this tactic could decapitate an unwary jounin. She wasn't too surprised when Orochimaru bent nintey degrees backwards to avoid it, she was still moving. Kaiza no Yaiba were flying at unknown speeds but the sannin dodged them as well, despite the wind blades being sped up by using wind chakra and invisible.

With that out of the way and her best weapon disabled, she spammed fifty bunshins, sending all but two at the sannin, having one henge into Sasuke, and the other would make sure that she wasn't missed.

She grabbed Sasuke's hand again and used a sealless kawarmii to get out of sight. With that she balefully gestured for Sasuke to hang on as she put her hands in the Ram sign for the battle shunshin. It only covered a short distance, but maybe if used many times in juncture, it would buy them the time they needed?

"Running away, Sasuke-kun? I'm disappointed." A blinding pain and Naome was tossed back before she crashed through a branch and halted. Blood pouring down her back let her know how bad the wound was, but she knew it would heal, and most likely without a scar.

It took four minutes to regain some semblance of mastery over her body, before she could stand up and focus enough to find her teammate and the sannin. If she didn't hurry, Sasuke would be hurt!

The giant cat helped bring her back to reality. Sasuke could summon medium sized cats, and still have enough chakra to defend himself if needed. That was a large cat though, several times larger than a human and fighting against a giant snake.

Naome sent some bunshins to aid the cat, which was having some trouble, while she personally followed the path of destruction until she found the battle still going strong.

Going strong might have been an exageration. Sasuke was running on little more than adrenaline and will power, but he was doing well. Orochimaru on the other hand was only toying him, testing him more than likely.

She _growled _as she noted the wounds on Sasuke's body. Nobody touched her teammates, _nobody!_ She felt the seal stuck to her arm activate and her mind cleared a little. She must've drawn on the Kyuubi's chakra.

Right now though, she only tossed away her jacket and ripped off the seal, accepting the chakra as it came _pounding_ through her flesh and bone. She needed all the help she could get, and she'd be damned if she turned away any kind of asset. Even one that literally ruined her life since day one.

The red chakra coursed through her veins, bringing to the fore all her rage and frustration, every negative feeling she'd had since getting this mission to meet Orochimaru. She felt it start to cloud her mind and this time her growl was silent.

_'Listen fox, if I go in there with my mind clouded by anger I'm going to get us _both_ killed. This is _my_ body so unless you want to die, you obey my commands for now!'_ She wasn't sure what she was expecting, other than her mind clearing. It wasn't an answer though.

_**"Whelp, do not presume to command me! I was ancient before you pathetic humans were little more than apes! I give you my chakra only to preserve my own life."**_ With a feeling that this wasn't over yet, Naome returned to the present and launched a shunshin. She was getting her teammate out of the frying pan, she only hoped she didn't land in the fire in the process.

**"TAJU KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!"** It was a sea of blonde, Naome as far as the eye could see and probably several more he didn't.

Orochimaru growled and cursed himself for ignoring the girl. He had tried to take her out quickly. A normal genin would've been knocked unconcious from the force of the blow alone and when she hadn't moved right away he had forgotten all about her in favor of Sasuke-kun.

He'd have to take a calculated risk of angering Nina-san, he decided. Within miliseconds the signs for one of the more wide ranged jutsu was finished and fire blew up from all around him. He was careful not to harm his future vessal though, even as entire platoons of Naomes were destroyed before his eyes.

Despite the sheer number of them and the many wind jutsu flying around, the numbers began to dwindle. In the course of the battle though, he lost Sasuke-kun. That was the second time the Kyuubi vessal managed to steal his prize away from him!

His KI reached new heights and everything in the vicinity froze like a deer caught in headlights. They had met up with the pink haired one again but now they were frozen barely fifty meters off. This time he was taking that troublesome blonde out of the fight before she could pull anything else.

Naome panicked upon feeling the KI coming. The ghost pain of being murdered _again and again_ was muffled this time. The Kyuubi's chakra held most of it at bay. The Kyuubi's chakra, containment seals. The beginning of an idea perhaps?

Getting away was unrealistic, neither Sasuke or Sakura could move. If Orochimaru was going to put the curse mark on Sasuke though, he'd have her to deal with.

Before anyone could come to their senses, Naome lifted up Sasuke's shirt and slapped a containment seal onto his stomach, locking it there. No sooner was this done then she was thrown away by a hard gust of wind. Her head smacked the next tree and she belatedly realized it was a long way down to the forest floor before she passed out.

_Sakura's POV, With Sasuke in the Forest of Death._

The missing nin, Orochimaru, came out of the tree line after Naome was tossed away like a rag doll. I watched as she began to fall and only the desperate knowledge that the fall would kill her let me move. I threw a kunai and it caught the back of her chainmail shirt, it penetrated deep enough into the bark to hold her up but she was unconcious.

Sakura felt something knock the wind out of her and she was tossed to another end of the branch. Luckily a bunch of smaller branches stopped her from falling to her own death. As she sat there and tried to catch her breath, she watched as the neck of the sannin elongated, heading straight for Sasuke-kun!

The Sannin's fangs sunk into Sasuke-kun's neck and a blood curdling scream erupted from her crush's lips. Sakura felt a pang in her chest as she watched the expression of agony play over her crush's features. She couldn't take this! What had she been doing since Nami? Didn't she train to avoid this?

"He will come to me, in search of power." And then he was gone, like he had never been and Sasuke-kun was still _screaming!_ Sakura forced herself to move, despite the fact she could tell she had a couple broken ribs. She had to help Sasuke-kun!

A mark had formed on the site of the bite. It looked like the three tomoe of a fully matured sharingan. Sakura used her diagnostic jutsu and it went haywire! Whatever this curse mark was, it was poisoning Sasuke-kun's very chakra!

It was strange though. Something of this magnitude should be spreading like wild fire through his chakra system. It was staying at the same density though, but not for lack of trying. The tainted chakra simply couldn't move far beyond the seal itself. There was something else on Sasuke-kun that was siphoning away the tainted chakra everytime it started to grow!

Whatever it was, it also kept him awake. He had stopped screaming but the pain was still evident on his face. She didn't know what to do! How could she take away the pain?

"Sasuke-kun, I don't know what to do!" She cried, tears falling like rain from her eyes. After what felt like an eternity Sasuke passed out, leaving Sakura the sole uninjured party of team seven.

Using her body as a support to life Sasuke-kun, she winced and corrected that last statement. She was the sole _concious_ party of team seven.

Somehow she dragged her teammates to a safe place. It wasn't very far from the battle scene, but she couldn't get them any farther than a natural cave made by the overgrown roots of a tree. Just getting Naome down without dropping her had nearly made Sakura black out from the pain.

With her teammates out of it and not in the best condition herself, Sakura carefully treated their wounds before she turned to herself. She wasn't sure how well she would do for this first actual use in the Bone Mending jutsu, but she felt she should use it on herself and risk the consequences before trying it on Sasuke-kun's broken hand.

Her chest felt uncomfortably warm for a moment but then the pain began to ease as she carefully manipulated the broken pieces to come together and _heal._ She let out a shuddering breath and looked over her reserves. She had more than enough, and she knew Sasuke-kun had a couple soldier pills in his pants pocket if she really needed it.

After that, she took a green scroll from Naome's pouch. She knew this scroll held lots of strange odds and ends that the blonde used to entertain herself during slow days. Usually while waiting for Kakashi-sensei to show up.

She opened the scroll and carefully looked over the different kanji in each storage compartment. The variation of things didn't seem to fit under any specific category, it was like Naome had only found things that amused her and sealed them away at random!

Slightly annoyed at the lack of organization, as it made her job that much harder, Sakura made a mental note to make Naome categorize her scrolls from now on. As it were, she found a wealth of tools to use to protect her teammates.

What Naome lacked in structure, she made up for in variety. In the first five minutes Sakura identified ten different compartments that held ten different exploding tag types, though she couldn't really tell what each one did or what made them all different from one another. She should look up fuinjutsu later, after they got out of this stupid forest.

She set up so many traps she could only describe the clearing around their little cave as Over Kill Zone. She wasn't even sure what most of the tags she placed did! For all she knew they were meant for long ranges and would kill their owner as well as any attackers. She really needed to get Naome to label her scrolls!

With that done, Sakura settled herself down next to some manually activated triggers with a kunai and swallowed the soldier pill. She'd apologize to Sasuke-kun for taking it when he woke up, but for now she was content to wait for her teammates to recover and stand guard.

Hours Later, Naome's severe concussion healed enough for her to grudgingly accept that, yes, she was indeed in a lot of pain but aware of her surroundings nontheless. Stupid fox forcing her to wake up before she was fully healed. She'd deal with the overgrown plushie later, when her head stopped spinning.

Unfortunately, it looked like that may be a while. Especially as it seemed they had some unexpected company. Naome bit back a groan as her vision cleared enough for her to see the Oto genin, and they looked pissed. Then again she'd be mad too if she were the one covered in Mystery Tag gunk. Wait...She didn't remember setting up any Prank Tags!

"We'll kill you!" The one with most of his face covered up shouted. Naome named him Scar JR since all those bandages reminded her of Danzo.

"I didn't know it would do that! What kind of tags does Naome make!" That was Sakura's voice but she couldn't see the pinkette! Slowly, Naome rose from her lying down position and saw something that scared her.

The female of the Oto team had Sakura on lock down by gripping her ponytail and pulling it painfully everytime the pinkette made a wrong move. Naome winced minutely, having one's hair torn out by the roots was painful, no two ways about it. The realization that her teammate was more or less being held hostage helped to clear her still aching head and she quickly looked for his weapons.

Her scrolls had been rifled through, probably so Sakura could get the prank tags though why she'd want them were beyond Naome's understanding. Her pouch was still open and she rapidly brought out four kunai, taking two in each hand, reverse group. This was the best hold for malay combat, and since she wasn't in the best mood, she was more than willing to use it.

"I won't be weak anymore!" Before Naome could call atention to her presence, Sakura pulled out a kunai. Rather than turn it on her captor though, she cut her hair and escaped the hold. This was all the encouragment Naome needed, and she sprang forward with her blades elongated with her natural affinity.

Kin ddn't have much time to scream as she felt the previously dormant chakra signature launch itself out at her. Her back to whatever force was approaching, she had already released the pinkette and was reaching for her senbon when the whatever-it-was crashed into her and blinding pain enveloped her torso.

Luckily she was fast enough to dodge the actual kunai, if not the wind blades on the end of each one. So although she got some deep scars, she was more or less fine.

"I just woke up, and I'm in a bad mood. Leave!" Naome ordered, her KI barely within acceptable levels. She didn't want to call on more enemy teams at this point. These entire chunin exams were enough of a cluster fuck without Gaara popping up out of nowhere for a biju battle.

"Wake up Sasuke, we're here to kill him." Scar Jr ordered incrediously. Naome's eyes narrowed and she looked over her shoulder to her sleeping teammate. She should've examined him right away but he had somehow slipped her mind. She'd have to wait until these guys were gone.

"Not happening. If you don't leave, I'll have to kill you. Please don't put more blood on my hands." She asked graciously. She had enough nightmares as it was. Enough worries without wondering about her immortal soul on top of everything else. Laughs and smiles could only hold back so much.

"Konoha kunoichi are weak, we'll just kill you and move on to Sasuke." The third Oto genin growled, his two palms facing her. What was that on his hands? They looked like tubes!

"Watch out, he can shoot some kind of blast through his hands!" Sakura cried a warning from behind her.

_Half an Hour Later, Forest of Death._

Alot can happen in thirty minutes. Naome knew that when life got hectic, it happened in short bursts. Like Lee falling from the sky with a squirrel on his shoulder to protect Sakura, Team ten appearing and helping to run off the Oto genin, Lee's team coming to get him and then taking the Oto's scroll, and now they were all just sitting there and waiting for someone to speak.

Ino and Sakura were already half at eachother's throats and half crying on eachother's shoulders. Ino had seen what Sakura did to her own hair and then helped to even it out. Naome thought Sakura looked better with short hair, but if she said that Sakura might get mad at her.

Naome had walked around the clearing, admiring the traps and taking them down at the same time. Prank tags did little more than stall/piss off the enemy. After putting the last unactivated tag away, she looked over to Sasuke.

She really needed to look him over, now that things had settled down again. She caught Shikamaru's eye and then shrugged at the silent question. How could she possibly know what was wrong with him? She didn't know enough about the curse mark.

"Chouji, sit him up for me. I need to remove his shirt to inspect the wound." Well, wound was the best word she could come up with at the moment. She blamed her still aching head.

The curse mark hadn't settled. That was actually a very good thing as it meant that her idea about applying the containment seal before the Curse Mark could be placed had worked. It was siphoning away the Tainted Chakra, leaving behind Sasuke's normal chakra.

"What is it?" Shikamaru asked, eyeing the slowly pulsing mark on Sasuke's shoulder. The skin around it was bruised and the seal glowed faintly purple as it continuously tried to gain some kind of foot hold in his chakra system.

"Very bad." Naome answered tersely. She only told Sasuke and Sakura because it had affected them directly and there hadn't been much chance at avoiding it in the first place.

Naome took a deep breath and then examined the seal she had recklessly slapped onto her teammate's stomach. Still doing it's job, but she'd like a little more insurance than that. Since this worked and the Mark hadn't settled, maybe another crazy idea would work.

"This mark is a seal, and a dangerous one at that. Right before the Mark was administered, I managed to slap this special Siphon seal onto him unnoticed, which is why the seal hasn't settled." It was an overly simplified explanation, but it would have to do. The Siphon seal, as she had decided to call it, would continue taking in the Tainted chakra but the chakra wouldn't dissappear. It needed to be sealed away afterwards or it would just stay in the tag until the paper disintergrated.

"Because it hasn't settled, it can still be removed where otherwise it would be impossible. So that's what I intend to do." They had little under four days to get to the tower. She would only need an hour, two at the most, to remove an unsettled seal.

She directed several bunshins to remove all grass in the clearing and then made them start drawing the seal needed using some chakra infused prank supplies. The seal itself though, she personally designed.

When a seal _settled_ it normally got foothold on the reciever's chakra system, integrating itself until it was difficult if not outright impossible to remove without killing whoever had the seal. This was the sole reason that Anko still had her seal, even though she might have accepted death if it meant no longer worrying about Orochimaru.

However if a seal like this doesn't _settle_ then that means for whatever reason, a flaw or interference, it can't hold the chakra system long enough to lock. People who had unsettled seals on them would be hindered because using chakra would cause great pain to the entire body. However they were easier to remove, almost like a normal seal placed on someone with a tag could be removed by simply pulling it off.

Of course, a seal as complex as the Curse Mark wasn't as easy to deal with as an unsettled Restriction seal or something. Without a host the Curse Mark would become unstable and more than likely result in an explosion large enough to destroy half the forest of death. That could not be allowed to happen.

So that meant simply getting it off of Sasuke was enough, it had to be transferred onto something else. To complicate matters, it had to be something living. Something with a chakra system, but preferably something that wouldn't survive the process so they wouldn't have an active and settled Curse Mark running around.

"What are you planning to do Naome?" Shikamaru demanded after the seal was finished. He really didn't like the expression of indecision on her face. It wasn't something that looked natural on Naome Uzumaki.

"...If it was introduced into a system already tagged by something would it still react..." She mumbled to herself as she inspected the seal. It _looked_ like it would work but she hated doing something like this without a test first. It felt too much like she was putting her life's savings and first born son up for grabs and all she had was one in a million odds.

"Maybe a bunshin...But it might dispel before the process finishes so thats no good." No good was an understatement. That would mean the Curse Mark would be stuck between _two_ hosts!

Naome eeped when she felt a hand land on her shoulder. What was with people and waiting until the worst possible moment to sneak up on her? Did they get a kick out of watching her jump a mile?

"Naome, you need to explain what's going on." Shikamaru said slowly, drawing her attention away from the seal and her own insecurities.

"Ano, didn't I? I told you that it needs to be removed." She was pretty sure she mentioned it at least. Then again since her head was still hurting a little she might have a concussion so she might not have actually said anything and only thought she said something...She confused herself and probably the readers too.

"If it was as simple as that you wouldn't be wearing the I-Must-Figure-Out-How-To-Break-This-Without-Making-It-Explode face." Oh great she had been flashing her emotions for the whole world to see again! She really needed to work on that more!

"Wait a second...That's a face?" Did she really make a face like that? What did it look like?

"Yes, yes it is. Now please stop being troublesome and explain why you are worrying so much about removing this thing." Naome's shoulders slumped and her eyes flickered over to where Sakura was standing uncertainly. She didn't know if it was safe to say anything or not, but she was waiting for Naome's cue.

"This seal is very bad, very deadly with a survival rate of one out of ten." She spoke surely and clearly now, resolution in her eyes. She wasn't letting her friend fall to such odds!

"What's more even if he survives it settling, the Tainted Chakra in the Mark will only bring a great deal of troublesome situations in the future. It's best to take this unexpected oppurtunity and remove it before my Siphon tag stops working." She'd explain in full after they got out of this crazy forest. She'd find some way to apologize to Shika and Cho, tell Sakura and Sasuke everything, and maybe even bring Ino into the fold.

"And the process to remove it?" He questioned relentlessly. His Naome senses were tingling. She was planning on doing something very troublesome in the very near future.

"Complicated for a seal _master_. Do-able, but the nature of the Tainted Chakra won't allow for any mistakes. The Curse Mark needs a host, otherwise it becomes unstable and if that happens it'll be Chakra Overload."

Naome had once explained the concept of Chakra Overload to him. She said that it was a seal term used to say Big-Ass Explosion without freaking everyone else out. He cursed before looking at the seal freshly drawn in the clearing. He could only recognize certain parts of it, things he had picked up from simply hanging around Naome while she studied, but the large whole of it escaped him.

"So you're going to transfer it? To what?" The way she said host implied something living. An animal? Or a person?

"The seal will break down and dissolve if the 'host' dies. Luckily, we're in the best location for catching possible hosts. All the animals in this forest, although not intelligent, have chakra simply because they live so close to a Hidden Village!" So all she had to do was catch an animal, any animal really, and they had a host! Worse case scenario was the death of a furry woodland creature!

The process was completed after that with the minimal of fuss and only the tiniest bits of anxiety. There was a moment when Naome feared she'd miscalculated somewhere and they were all about to die, when the seal began to throb and take more chakra than she thought it needed. Thankfully it seemed the seal could only weakly protest to it's own movement.

It was transferred into a giant slug that Chouji had caught. The slug had shrivelled up, making odd screaming noises that made Naome wince in guilt, before it finally died.

Sasuke woke up ten minutes later, was filled in, then after a brief examination from Sakura was deemed fit for duty. With that, both genin teams seperated as team ten didn't have a scroll yet. Team seven moved on to the tower shortly after a lunch of ration bars that made them long for the breakfast from yesterday.

"You know, I don't know why but that felt too easy." Sakura said hesitantly. After all the worrying about Orochimaru, and then getting off without any permanant damage, she had to wonder if some Higher Being was watching over them.

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth Sakura! You'll call down the wrath of the Gods!" Naome half sobbed half laughed. She didn't think she could handle Sakura somehow jynxing them when they were so close to home free.

"Gomen!" The pinkette giggled, happy to see Naome back to normal. Maybe things would be alright after all.

"I didn't know you were religious." Sasuke mentioned incrediously.

"...Trust me if you had my life you'd wonder if someone upstairs was messing with you too." She muttered in reply. She didn't like to think everything in her life happened by simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time, that was just depressing.

As things went, the trip to the tower this time around was almost boring. There wasn't the same hurried, controlled panic, feeling as before. Now it was like a simple stroll through any forest. Ignoring the venemous moths they ran into, but they were practically blind so they were easy to avoid.

In fact, they were maybe one mile away from the tower when Naome sensed someone approaching. Whoever they were was in direct line with their path. Naome's brows scrunched together and her lower lip jutted out a bit. She really did not want to meet anyone else during these stupid exams! She only wanted to get to the tower!

"Guys, we're taking the scenic route. Someone's up ahead and it looks like they're waiting for us." Sasuke and Sakura nodded and moved to follow. Briefly, Sasuke looked over his shoulder, spreading his own chakra sense to try and find out who it was. He didn't recognize the signature, probably because he was still so new to using this ability, but whoever it was really seemed to be waiting for them.

He turned away from the chakra source and focused back on following Naome to the tower from the eastern side. Watching Naome's back as they tree hopped, he felt the ghost of a pain on the juncture between shoulder and neck, where the Curse Mark once sat.

Before it had been constant pain, even unconcious he was still aware of it. Suddenly feeling it vanish like it had never been had been a relief and he'd awoken to find out that Naome had moved the mark from his body to a shrivelled up slug. The pain was gone, he was fine with no side affects, and though Naome was feeling low on chakra she had more than enough to get them all to the tower safely, with three days to spare.

Naome Uzumaki, a girl who wasn't a fangirl, had helpful knowledge in fuinjutsu, was stronger than he was, and certainly not bad on the eyes. Of course with _Him_ still alive it was far too soon to be thinking of such things, but afterwards. He supposed he could live with her as a first wife after he'd gotten his vengeance. After becoming stronger than her of course.

They reached the tower, and then entered into a giant room with a weird poem thing hanging on the wall. Naome honestly had no clue what it was talking about. Heaven and Earth and get what you desire? This was why she wasn't overly in to poetry. The one she wrote when she was pregnant was the exception and she admitted that one kind of sucked too.

"I think it means we have to open the scrolls together." Sakura said hesitantly. Naome blinked before she dug out the Earth scroll in her pouch while Sakura brought out the Heaven scroll. The two girls looked first at eachother, then over to the sole male. Silently reaching a decision, the seals were broken and the scrolls opened.

"Their a summoning! Ditch the scrolls!" Naome cried in shock when she saw the inscription. They tossed the scrolls to the middle of the room and a puff of smoke cleared to reveal a familiar chunin.

"Mizuki-sensei!" Yes, it was a chunin they were familiar with. One none of them had seen since graduation day, when they recieved their teams and hitaite and began their journey as genin. Naome hadn't had the same relationship with Mizuki-sensei as she did Iruka-sensei, but he was still a teacher to be treated with respect.

"Well I'm surprised to see you all here so soon. I expected you to take longer than just two days." He greeted them somewhat coldly. The blonde wondered if he was upset about being picked for chunin summoning duty or something.

"I'll show you to a place where you can wait for the next three days until the rest of the contestants arrive." Sasuke and Sakura apparently didn't take much notice of Mizuki's tone and followed him easily. Naome absently scratched her whiskered cheek. Was she imagining things?

Naome would later kick herself repeatedly for letting her guard down so easily just because a familiar face showed up. For now though she followed slightly behind her teammates as they were led upstairs and then through a long hallway to wherever it was they were meant to stay.

Mizuki left them in a room with two bunk beds. It wasn't very big, just large enough for the bunk beds with four feet of space in between them. Naome wondered if they'd be given food or be expected to survive without it, at least she brought some of her regular bentos sealed in her scroll!

The second exam, for all intents and purposes, was finished without any great disaster. Now, Naome wondered what the plan was. Should she wait until she was called by the Old Man before leaving for her mission? Did Kabuto mean after the five days, or after Orochimaru put the mark on Sasuke for the end of the exams?

She had subconciously stretched out on one of the beds and was just dozing off when an unholy voice spoke up. Clearly the Gods were angry that she survived that last cluster fuck. Yep, they were pissed because Orochimaru didn't kill her.

"Naome-san It is very Youthful of you to get to the tower as Youthfully Possible! Please, Open Your Youthful eyes that we might ignite our Flames of Youth!" Without really thinking about she reached out with one hand and lightly bopped the owner of the loud voice on the head.

"Naome-san? What are you doing?" A different, and thankfully quieter voice, spoke. This one was female, but she didn't recognize it.

"Looking for the snooze button." She answered sluggishly. Her words sounded a little slurred, she hoped it wasn't too noticable.

"Did you have to wake her up? She's going to be in a bad mood all day now." That was a familiar voice, although why Sasuke even let Lee and the other two strangers in was still a mystery to her.

Resigning herself to the unavoidable, Naome opened her eyes and proceded to glare at the owner of the loud voice. Lee either hadn't noticed or didn't care that her fist was still placed firmly on his head. He was busy replying to Sasuke.

"Yosh! It is not very Youthful to sleep in the middle of the Day! I was merely trying to Ignite the Flames of Youth lying dormant in Naome-san!" Huh, she recognized who the female voice must've been now. Silly of her to recognize Lee's but not Tenten's voice. Personally she blamed it on the fact Lee was pretty hard to forget.

"Lee, I'm tired and a shinobi should take the chance to catch up on lost sleep at the nearest oppurtunity." Okay, she might have been able to word that better. As it was, she was just glad for the thick pillows that were around to conveniently duck under to stop her ears from being blasted by Lee's rant of Youth.

"...This is obviously devine retribution. I clearly pissed off some kind of diety and now they have cursed me." She groaned as the head splitting headache refusted to abate. It was easier to blame the Gods. If they really existed, she'd probably be a smoldering pile of ash by now so she figured she was safe.

Sasuke caught her 'look' directed at him and made a gesture as if to say 'I didn't invite them'. She sighed before properly greeting her guests. Although she was mildly miffed when Sakura told her she only slept for about twenty minutes, she still acted polite if a little snappish. Again, the headache was blamed.

Eventually team nine left team seven to their sleep and Naome gratefully slumped back onto her bed. She'd get a solid hour of sleep if it was the last thing she did! Woe to the pathetic mortal who interrupted her rest next time!

Her blue eyes snapped open immediatly and confusion settled in. Okay, one second she's lying in bed pleasantly planning the death of anyone stupid enough to wake her up, the next she's in a sewer? Why a sewer? How did she get here? Where was here?

"...I'm going to have to slap a bitch." She finally decided, standing up and moving down the long corridor. Eventually she'd come across an opening and be able to climb back to the outside world. Then she'd locate her teammates and beat answers out of them.

If she was more violent in her thought process, she blamed lack of sleep. As it were she only walked on. She walked on with her gaze lazily inspecting the walls of the sewer and the pipes on the roof, which steadily dripped a dirty water that she honestly didn't want to touch.

The pipes had started out a dark blue color but now they were changing to a crimson red. The color of blood, the color of a certain nameless chakra that she had called up only twice in her life.

This comparison worried her and she paused uncertainly, her head turned upwards. Yes, she was sure now, these pipes had something to do with that chakra. What was the connection and what was this place though?

Her eyes wandered from the ceiling, down to the seemingly never ending corridor, and she made a startling discovery. She was ankle deep in murky, definitely not clean, water. At least she hoped it was water.

She shivered in disgust and climbed onto the dry walls where a new discovery was made. She didn't feel wet. Her pants and sandals were just as dry as when she was in the blue pipe area.

"Okay, so water isn't wet and red pipes have some relation to the Kyuubi. Where the fuck am I?" Slowly, she lowered herself back onto the ground, encouraged by the persisting feeling of dryness.

**"You are slow, whelp."** Naome eeped and jumped a mile into the air, as a presence that wasn't there a minute ago made itself known.

**"Meet with me whelp, or I will push you out of your own mind!"** In normal circumstances, obeying a giant hundred foot tall nine tailed demon fox might not be the smartest thing. In retrospect, she probably shouldn't have moved an inch until the fox held up his threat and pushed her out of her mind, which she figured was pretty messed up to be a sewer, and into the real world.

So she started to run in the direction of the voice. She couldn't be afraid of this monster forever, and the sooner she could picture it, maybe the sooner she could put her fears to rest.

She entered a clearing and stopped mid-step at the sight of a giant cage. Surprisingly _not_ out of breath, she swallowed her trepidition and cautiously approached the menacing bars. They were huge, with spaces between large enough she could walk through easily.

**"So you are my container. A young vixen with a kit of her own."** He was holding back, that much she was sure of. His mere presence filled the room with a deadly aura that seemed to choke away any air, just as it seemed she didn't need any within her own mind.

Maybe it was fear, or that half-fear half-angry feeling that she was too familiar with. Maybe she had snapped from lack of sleep and the stress of recent events. Maybe she'd always been a little mad and simply never noticed until now. Whatever the reason, suddenly she wanted to have a real conversation with the greatest demon of the Elemental Nations.

"Kyuubi no kitsune, that's a title isn't it?" It was random, probably suicidal, and no doubt somehow offensive. Naome blamed lack of sleep, which was becoming a very popular excuse come to think of it.

The Biju looked down on her as if to say _I've seen bigger weeds._ His great, red eye glared down at her and she felt an almost _curious_ Intent from him. Not KI but simply _intent._ She couldn't tell if he was angry or not but she had already opened her mouth, she may as well see things through. Besides, she didn't think the fox could really kill her. If she died, he died!

**"You have not earned my name, not yet and perhaps not ever. I only called you here to sate my curiosity."** She could see his tails twitch and she watched as he slowly knelt down until he was lying, giant snout pointed at her.

"...Quick question, was my mind always a gutter or did that happen after I read those adult books?" The tension got to her. She was ready to crack like an egg on the sidewalk!

**"It has been a sewer for a great many years, that poor excuse for literature did not affect it beyond the strange dreams you had."** He could see her dreams? Did this mean he could read her thoughts too? Why was she so calm when she was talking to the greatest demon of all time? Shouldn't she be a quivering wreck about now?

**"I believe it is my turn for a question. Why was the scum who touched you not killed by your hand?"** Scum who touched her?...Oh...Killing him might have made her feel better in the short term but it would've opened a whole new can of worms.

"Uuhhmm...Because I honestly didn't think of it at the time? I was still half out of it from whatever drug he gave me! The second time I was a little pre-occupied with not getting my apartment burned down." She noticed that the water was gone and she gratefully sat down. She wasn't sure why she felt so tired in her own mind, but she didn't question it.

If she saw him tomorrow, the man she wanted to both cuss out and thank, what would she do? Would she go on a rampage and kill him? Would she freeze in fear? Why was she even thinking about this?

After that night, other things had become more important than thinking about him. She had purposely pushed him out of her mind, she didn't want to remember that night. She wanted to pretend it had never happened and she hadn't changed at all. Over the years she'd gotten very good at playing pretend, so she played pretend with herself that October Tenth never happened.

Then she found out she was pregnant and life was suddenly amazing and new, like a new toy. Suddenly all her efforts to forget her birthday paid off and she was happy. She would sometimes just look down at her expanding belly and feel something inside her growing with each passing day and nothing else mattered.

**"...Leave little vixen, a weak human like you should replenish it's little strength with slumber and food."** She didn't have a chance to say anything else before she was pushed from her mind. When she opened her eyes to stare up at the bunk bed above her, she wondered why she didn't feel relieved. She'd just gotten away unscathed from a meeting with a dangerous demon.

_Fourth Day of Second Test, 3:00! Forest of Death Tower!_

"Naome, the Hokage wants to see you." Naome looked up from the book she was reading to greet Mizuki-sensei. After two days his cool attitude hadn't let up at all, if anything it had grown. She just couldn't figure out what she'd done to piss him off!

"He's here? I'm coming!" She sealed away her book and waved to her teammates before following Mizuki-sensei.

She was led to an upper floor and then into an office. Inside was the Old Man, Jiraiya, Kakashi-sensei, Danzo, and Ibiki! Suddenly feeling a little nervous Naome wished she'd had an oppurtunity for a shower, or at least another change of clothes beyond the revealing outfit she showed up at the academy in.

"You may leave Mizuki." The hokage dismissed the chunin. Mizuki bowed his head briefly in respect before retreating from the room.

"Naome, after the preliminary rounds you will be escorted from the forest and will make your way to the Memorial to meet Orochimaru, are you ready?" He asked without preamble. She didn't think she was ready, she might never be, but this was something she had to do.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Because honestly, how could she back out so late in the game? A hokage would never back down from such an important mission!

"Now, about the Curse Mark..." Oh yeah, she never had a chance to tell them about what she did! Boy were they going to be surprised!

"I figured out a way to prevent them settling on the host body." She took a Siphon tag out of her pocket and explained everything. After that she drew out a discription of the seal she used to transfer the mark to a slug from the forest.

"How did you come up with this?" Jiraiya asked, gesturing to the Siphon tag. It was really a modified containment seal but rather than being used to restrain normal chakra it had been used against foreign chakra, that which didn't belong to a human.

"After discovering that I'm a jinchuriki I studied fuinjutsu because I was afraid of the demon ever breaking out. I designed the seal to activate if the Kyuubi's chakra ever tried to override my own conciousness." She explained, rolling up a sleeve to show an identical seal placed over her skin.

"It was more of a spur of the moment thing but I already knew that the Curse Mark worked by infusing Tainted Chakra into the host's chakra system, which is basically the same thing so I figured it was worth a shot." Was she in trouble? It worked didn't it? She avoided a Marked Uchiha, so they really couldn't fault her.

"You designed it to negate any foreign chakra, how did you test this?" Oh, so she wasn't in trouble. Right?...Why were powerful shinobi so stingy with facial expressions? Couldn't they see a potential panic attack when it was giving a report to them?

"...Actually the first field test happened just after Orochimaru showed up when I used the Kyuubi's chakra for an energy boost." That might be good or bad depending on everyone's prior impression of her. She could either come off as reckless or a budding seal genius and great asset to Konohagakure. She really hoped it was the latter because she really didn't need any more headaches.

After her initial report on the happenings in the forest, she was released back to her teammates. There she patiently spun a yarn of the hokage needing her to give a detailed explanation of the seal used to transfer the Curse Mark to explain why the hokage would need just her and not them as well. She didn't think Sakura cared about not getting to see the Hokage but Sasuke looked a little miffed. He probably wasn't used to not being the center of the universe, not that she blamed him. Personally, she wouldn't mind pushing him into the lime light, if only for a little while.

With that all said and done, the second exam was finished with only minor maiming and a few deaths. Today was the day of the preliminaries, and Naome was looking forward to it with a feeling that was half-relief half-fear. The fight itself, unless she unluckily drew Gaara, would be easy. It was where she was going and to do what that set her on edge.

"You look worried, troublesome girl." Shikamaru was, helpfully for once, standing beside her on the balcony as Sasuke fought against one of the spies. Not that Shika knew it was a spy, despite his freaky techniques the guy still wore a konoha hitaite. Personally Naome hoped Sasuke mopped the floor with his poor excuse for an ass!

"I'm worried how Anko's handled Hikaru-chan." She whispered, not wanting to be overheard. She wasn't ready to fend off Ino's persistent questions about the mysterious Hikaru. It really would be easier to bring her fellow blonde into the fold!

And Anko was heavily pregnant with a one year old for five days. That couldn't end well. Anko was probably crying from lack of sleep or something, since she couldn't take normal naps when baby sitting for long periods of time. Plus having to feed him too, when previously she only ever ate when she felt like it.

Yeah, maybe leaving Hikaru with Anko wasnt the most thought out plans, but Haku was too busy! The Day Care couldn't watch Hikaru all the time! Anko was honestly the best option.

"...I'll get whatever you're really worried about out of you if it takes fifty games of shogi." Which was pretty drastic by his standards, considering he didn't like playing against her since she sucked at the game. Sure, Strategies Class was easy but shogi was just plain complicated! How was she expected to remember all the rules?

The fights proceeded easily enough, and then it was her turn. The flashboard read Naome Uzumaki Vs. Kiba Inuzuka. This could be interesting, as she had never beaten him in the academy.

"We lucked out Akamaru, Naome's good but she can't beat us!" The puppy barked happily in reply, apparently agreeing.

"Akamaru you should put a muzzle on your pet! He's all bark and no bite!" Naome grinned at the small dog.

Kiba growled as his partner barked a laugh before he took out a small bottle full of tiny black pills. He had to be serious right from the beginning or they wouldn't have much of an upper hand. He was ready for whatever tricks Naome had up her sleeves.

The match began, and Naome let Kiba make the first move as he launched a pill at his partner and began the signs for a technique. Beast Imitation technique gave him a more feral outlook, on top of turning Akamaru temporarily human. She wondered how long that would last.

Kiba was faster than her, and physically stronger. However, he wasn't using anything but that one twisting move with his partner, so it was likely he didn't have anything else in his arsenal. Naome took a second while stuck in a handstand to wonder how she could level the playing field.

The first step was smoke bombs. Of course, belonging to Naome Uzumaki these smoke bombs were brightly colored and on occasion, very funky smelling. An improvised mask of a large hankercheif around her nose and mouth, Naome was unhindered.

"Relax, worst case scenario is a bad rash!" She called to the frozen Kiba, at least she assumed it was Kiba. She lost track of who was who during the relentless attacks.

"It stinks!" The pained howl came. How sensetive was the Inuzuka nose to be so badly effected by a stink bomb? That was a pretty big weakness.

She let out a yelp as something with _teeth_ latched onto her right arm. Damnit but dog bites hurt! Well, at least he was a dog now, since a bite from something looking like Kiba might have actually done more damage. Lucky Akamaru hadn't hit his growth spurt yet.

Naome didn't really want to be known as the kind of person who kicks puppies, but she had to make an exception due to extenuating circumstances. So she managed to pry his fangs from her arm and tossed him by the tail in a random direction, which may or may not have been directed at her snickering sensei on the balcony. What was he laughing at?

Oh yeah, these colorful bombs were the kind to stain clothes. He had been on the recieving end of these before, so he would know. This logic followed that it meant she would spend the majority of the day rainbow colored. Well shit!

Naome purposely turned away distractions like those and focused on her opponent , who had staggered out of the color cloud and was hacking painfully. Three bunshins popped into existence, one going to take the puppy hostage and the other two to make sure Kiba didn't have a chance to recover.

While they were busy doing that, she decided to play cat's cradle with some ninja wire. Cat's cradle on a big scale with Prank Tags hanging at random intervals all around her target, of course. So basically it was Prankster/Ninja cat's cradle.

"Oi, Kiba! You might want to admit defeat before the stink bombs become a pleasant memory." She advised after he'd destroyed both bunshins and realized he was already trapped with his partner held hostage.

Kiba didn't recognize these tags, but he knew what they could do. He'd heard stories of her various victims and he had no wish to add his own hellish experience to the pool. If it had just been that he thinks he would've taken the risk, but one of those dang annoying bunshins had nabbed Akamaru!

"Or I could always stuff and mount the puppy! He'd look cute as a plushy!" What disturbed him the most was the glint in her eyes. As though she really was thinking about Akamaru as a plush toy to be squished beyond recognition when she was in a girly mood.

"Grrr! Proctor, I give!" With that, the match was called in her favor and she took down the wires and replaced the tags in their various positions. Good thing he hadn't called her bluff, since about half of them were decoys and the other half only held diaper rash powder. Which, although surprisingly combustible, wasn't very threatening.

Naome happily returned Akamaru, unharmed, and returned to the balcony to wait out the remaining fights and to treat her dog bite. It looked like things were getting interesting, and she couldn't wait to see what would happen next, although she could definitely put off meeting an S-rank nin.

For the most part she was feeling cool as a cucumber. She'd burn Orochi's bridge when she got to it, there was little point ripping her hair out over something she couldn't avoid. So it was a shock when Hinata's fight started.

She knew Neji, at least as well as someone who invited the entire team nine to her table could. He was a polite, if a bit stinted, young man. Kind of like Sasuke, but more talkative. She thought he was an alright kind of guy.

Then he began saying those things about Hinata. He claimed it was her fate to be weak and she should only accept it. He practically shouted at her for her weakness and _ordered_ her to stand down and be disgraced.

For a second, a heart wrenching moment in time, Hinata looked like she would. Naome caught her eye though and she opened her mouth to encourage the only female to ever challenge her in the academy. The one she had both felt the most threatened by and wished to get to know during her pregnancy. Someone she hadn't realized could be a very good friend, and Naome kicked herself for being so blind.

"Hinata, don't let him talk about you like that! Where's the girl that kicked my ass in the academy? Prove him wrong!" She read the unimitatable look of _happiness_ that came over Hinata's face, one that let her start to live up to her name. Suddenly she was like a whole different person.

"Neji-niisan, you are wrong. Fate decrees nothing!" With that Hinata lurched forward, no hand signs needed to activate her eyes. She'd gotten more than enough practice with Naome, when the girl had urged her to fight at her best in the academy.

The fight was...painful. For a little while they seemed almost evenly matched, and then Neji revealed why his clan considered him a genius. Dozens of tenkutsu on Hinata's arm were closed off, until it was hard for her to channel chakra there. After that it became rather one sided.

She fell, once then again and again, but she kept _getting up!_ Neji's rage seemed to finally come to a peak as Hinata coughed up blood but shakily stood again. Naome heard the proctor call the match and she knew Neji heard it too, but he still charged forward.

Her hands made the sign without registering it and she half heartedly moved to the side a little so the blow did not hit her heart but rather the center of her chest. Pain blossomed forth but she'd be fine, the fox would take care of it.

"Naome-san!" Hinata was in pain, and although wounded badly and losing the match, she was still well enough. However she hadn't been in any condition to dodge that last blow. If it had struck her heart she'd be dead, or if not dead then permanantly damaged. Naome had seen that and chosen to take the blow instead, shifting only enough so the blow landed where the damage would be more distributed and thus more easily healed.

Naome fell on her rear and coughed a few times, clutching the area of the strike as she looked up into the eyes of the still raging Neji. Neji, who was being held back by no less than three jounin who had moved just a milisecond too late.

"Pray, Neji Hyuuga." He looked at her in confusion.

"Because I swear by the blood of my body that for nearly killing my _friend_ I will make you _hurt._" And that was the truth, because even if Hinata wasn't a friend now, she planned to change that.

The winners of the matches picked a number and were assigned their opponent for the third round, held one month from today. Whether by chance or because certain parties thought it would be best for her to fulfill her promise before potentially maiming anyone else, she got Neji for the very first round.

With that, she was skillfully replaced by an imposter from ANBU as she was escorted quickly from the forest to the meeting site. She had a snake to interrogate and she'd need to carefully conceal any feelings she had on the matter. This had to go off without a hitch or alot of people were going to die.

She henged into Nina and walked casually to the memorial, looking for all the world like an old woman come to pay tribute to a lost relative. She came to a stop just off the stone and allowed her eyes to flick over it, searching for one name. She found it too, right beside the name of Konoha's Yellow Flash even. Her kaa-san, Kushina Uzumaki.

"Are you mourning a loved one?" She had sensed him coming, so she wasn't surprised when Kabuto fell from a nearby tree.

"Many, actually. I have seen many young shinobi, brought back in a scroll and their names carved onto an old stone. How pitiful." She felt vaguely sick from saying such a thing when she'd just been looking at her own mother's name, but appearances had to be kept.

"Indeed." This voice would haunt her nightmares, of this she was sure.

"Ah, you must be Orochimaru-kun, or is there something else you'd prefer me to call you?" She greeted without turning.

"I believe we're alone, so Orochimaru is fine." The snake walked until he stood beside her, in disguise so casual onlookers would not recognize him.

"Did you complete your objective in the forest of death? Naome-chan wasn't hurt too badly was she?" She made small talk. How much did he know about what had happened to his mark?

"Yes, but it appears it must have been sealed away, as Sasuke-kun did not call on it while I watched his preliminary bout." So he wasn't able to tell when they were removed, how helpful.

"As for Naome-chan, what connection has she with you?" He asked conversationally.

"I am not as young as I used to be, Orochimaru-kun, and when I die I take with me years of valuable knowledge and jutsu. I have been carefully grooming her since she was a child to carry on my ideals of power." He was buying into it so far, but she couldn't say anything definite.

"And the child Hikaru?" He was rather interested in him.

"The child of Naome-chan, conceived on her tenth birthday by a drunk." He perked up a bit at that and Nina wondered what he was planning. If he asked her to hand her son over he had another thing coming!

"How fascinating. Tell me, how did the seal react to pregnancy?" He asked curiously. Shit, time for some BS. Since she hadn't known she was a jinchuriki then she hadn't even considered that something could have happened out of the ordinary.

"You are aware the nature of the seal is Shiki Fuin, the Death God Seal?" He shook his head no, looking almost troubled. This had obviously been unexpected. How well known was the nature of her seal?

"Shiki Fuin takes a human sacrifice as you well know, but life itself is not enough. The soul of the castor is taken to do battle in the Shinigami's stomach for all eternity against the very entity that was sealed." She wondered what kind of hitch this put in his plans. Why did this seem important.

"Well because of this it is very powerful, powered by a God. Normally a seal of that magnitude would weaken in the hormonal Hell of pregnancy, but this one did not." He seemed to be following.

"Because of the Shinigami, the only thing out of ordinary was a chakra shell covering the embryo, protecting it from the Kyuubi chakra that consistently circulated through her system." That drew an interested hum, but she wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. At least he wasn't asking her for village secrets.

"Other than that and her age though, it appeared to be a normal pregnancy. Hikaru was a bit big for being early, but as you can see I believe the exposure to chakra in the womb sped up his own development." She couldn't really read him, but she could listen to her gut. Her gut said that he would be looking into this at his nearest oppurtunity.

"Now I have given you a few things to think on, why not give me something to look forward to?" She laughed quietly. She'd given a little, now it was his turn to let loose a few things. Preferably, things about the invasion!

She allowed her eyes to glint with glee when money was passed into her hand. A rather large amount of money too. Oh the things she could buy! She smelled a shopping spree!

"You do know how to flatter a girl." She crooned, pocketing the healthy sum.

"Nina-san, on top of that I have a favor to ask of you." Okay, time to put those few interrogation skills to good use.

"Oh?" She challenged, only now looking at him directly. What was he thinking beyond that mask of bemusment?

You see there is an important weapon of mine who's death I can only prolong. Until recently he was the last of his clan, and out of fifty children only one did not inherit the disease. I want you to raise her." Holy Hell where did that come from? Kaguya clan? Who were they? And a kid! Another one?

"Why not the child's own mother?" She asked curiously. It seemed like a logical choice to her.

"She met an unfortunate end when she attempted to end the child's life." He answered with a perfectly straight face. What kind of mother tries to kill her own child? It made her sick!

"Why an old woman such as me? I already have my hands full with someone as lively as Naome-chan." Even if both parents were unsuitable, why would he send the last of a clan to Konoha? And why to her? Why was her life so fucked up?

"Because no women in Oto are strong enough to be trusted with this. If you agree, I can make it worth your while." His offer was tempting. Not only because she couldn't stand the thought of the girl in the hands of someone like him, but because she still might be able to salvage this meeting.

Orochimaru watched the cogs in her brain work at speeds he was impressed of, considering her age. Truthfully the child was more trouble than he had time to deal with, and none of his other bases were equipped enough. Nina though, had been suggested by Kabuto. She had the necessary skill level to keep the child safe while simultaniously training her and gathering information for himself.

However the biggest reason was sentamentality. Nina appeared to have no living family members left and had adopted the jinchuriki, and then the child of said jinchuriki. Kabuto had mentioned that she had a protective streak for these two children, and he hoped that giving her a child to raise as her own would cement her loyalty to him. He'd hazard a guess as to say she knew it too, and yet she didn't want to pass it up.

He could say from this short meeting that Nina held similar, if not identical, views of people as he did. She would be good for the child that had nearly been spoiled. If it gained him a little leeway with the ancient woman then that was an added bonus.

"I will agree, if you let me in on a little information. I already know that Suna is involved and I know Gaara-chan is no doubt a key player, but is there anything you intend to do whilst staying here?" He would have Kabuto bring the girl from the nearby base to the village tomorrow, but for now he earned the child her room and board. Hopefully she would grow to be a great kunoichi and then bare many children so the Kaguya clan would not die out.

**Finally! I don't know why but this was harder to type out then I thought it would be!**

LC; UGH! Why did this take so long to write!

Naruto; You were being lazy.

Sasuke; Where did the Kaguya kid come from? I don't remember her.

LC; Meh, I figured that Orochimaru would've at least tried to keep the clan alive since the blood line was so valuable. I was reading Wiki about Tenzo and how he was the only survivor so I made a survivor of the Kaguya disease too!

Naruto; Since when was this planned?

LC; I thought about it when I finished with chapter three, but now I finally put it in!

Naruto; I wonder what else you got planned and I know the readers are wondering the same thing!

Sasuke; So review and she'll find time to update again...Eventually.


	7. Closer to the Edge

LC; I was suddenly hit over the head by my muse.

Naruto; You have a muse?

LC; Yeah! P!nk~! Whenever I have writer's block I listen to her music!

Sasuke. This explains where your crazy ideas comes from.

Naruto; You need a new muse.

LC; No I don't! She's been working overtime all night!

Naruto; Why start a new chapter so soon anyway? Don't you have homework?

LC;...*Looks at books lying on bed*...No.

Sasuke; You are going to flunk out of college.

LC; People can flunk out? Why wasn't I told?

Disclaimer; Warning, objects in your screen own less Naruto than they appear.

Chapter 7; 'Tween twelve.

"I am going to raze Konoha to the ground and kill my worthless sensei." Nina had to fight not to show anything. Sensei, his sensei was Hokage-jiji, the man who had helped her so much when she was small and who she secretly thought of as a grandfather, despite always being respectful.

"Sarutobi-san? Wouldn't that be an interesting fight." Actually, it probably would be cool to watch. There would be jutsu flying like nobody's business! If he wasn't so confident that the old man would die she might actually consider bringing popcorn.

"Nina-san, I'm afraid I can stay any longer. The child will be delivered at two in the morning tomorrow, between ANBU patrols. I look forward to the next time we can speak face to face." She inclined her head, just enough to be respectful but not enough to be submissive, and then they were gone. She was alone in a clearing with a stone with the name of her dead kaa-san wirtten on it.

Her eyes drifted upward and felt the wind shift from the east to the west and the sky start to darken. How poetic that the winds would change now of all times. Maybe tonight the sky would appear on her canvas.

"I like it when things are happening." She decided solemnly, chuckling at her own joke as she turned down the path back to the village. She needed to report, then she wanted to spend some time with Hikaru before she found her teammates and Shika's team to make arrangements for a little meeting to reveal a few secrets.

Then after that meeting, she'd visit Hinata in the hospital. She'd put her knowledge of flowers to good use and pick some from her garden as a present. Then she'd offer herself as a training dummy for after she was discharged. After that she'd have to make preparations for the little girl she'd be taking care of for the forseeable future.

"...And that's just about it. What should I do about the little girl?" She hadn't even gotten a name! She didn't know anything but that the girl was apparently a kaguya, whatever that was. She should look up that clan in the library with Zoro.

"As it is important for your cover I think you will be allowed to raise her. You've done well so far with Hikaru, my only worry is that your apartment is a bit small for your needs." That was kind of a relief, she was actually starting to look forward to meeting her. How old was she? Probably still young from how he spoke about her.

"I'll think of something." Her two bedroom was small, even for just her and Hikaru-chan. She didn't want to move though, it was a hassle and would bring up questions from Yoshino and Chrona and Yuki.

"Now, do you have a Shinobi Bank account that I can safely transfer your funds to?" Oh yeah, she was getting paid the same amount as a normal S-rank would be paid. She wondered how much that was.

"Sure, my number is..." It was alot. S-ranks paid well. Very well infact, as she had enough money to buy a small estate _and_ hire a bunch of servants to do all the house work, while leaving plenty enough to live off for a few months. Were all strong shinobi this rich?

"...Something tells me buying a larger apartment will not be difficult." Sarutobi chuckled around his pipe as he watched Naome look stupidly at the many zeroes on the cheque. He would put the funds into her account later today, while he was out on some errands. If anyone asked questions Ran would say that a wealthy family member she'd been very close to had recently died and left her a small fortune.

Twenty minutes later two bunshins were giving invitations for a lunch time meeting tomorrow at the BBQ place and she'd make a few confessions. Ino was on board and since she already promised to tell Sakura and Sasuke everything they agreed without too much trouble. That done, one dispelled to tell her of their success while the other henged into Zoro. Time for some late night research.

Anko was certainly happy to be free of baby sitting duty. Haku was apparently succesful with Kiba's older sister, Hana, and Shiho. He had decided against Hinata though, which made Naome secretly happy, he would be meeting with a girl named Chichi instead who was a civilian.

Hikaru-chan was esctatic to be with his kaa-chan again, of course. Naome told him that he'd be getting a sister soon and that they would move to a newer, bigger, house too. He seemed excited and was asking all sorts of questions she didn't have answers to. She just told him it was a surprise to cover that up though, after all she had to keep up the illusion that kaa-chan knew everything.

She put him to bed at nine thirty and tried to go to sleep herself but she had been struck with a rare case of insomnia. Things were happening faster than she thought possible, and she almost longed for the care free days in the academy where all she had to worry about was someone discovering a pregnancy.

She finally got up around ten thirty and got out her painting supplies, and then opened her curtains. The night was cloudy with only a few stars poking out, the buildings around were illuminated by the moon and she saw an ANBU dart over the roofs, cloak billowing in the wind.

Everything she just saw was soon on the canvas, and with the ANBU's white mask glowing almost supernaturally she was finished. The peaceful night turned into an almost sinister, forshadowing time. People sleeping peacefully in their rooms knowing that assassins who could kill them with barely a thought travelled the skies at night.

She fell asleep at eleven thirty, dropping on her bed and hardly bothering to close the curtains. She didn't dream, wasn't visited by any giant foxes or nightmares, it was a deep sleep that she was glad was uninterrupted. She could sleep until Hikaru managed to climb out of his crib, onto the rocking chair and then to the floor, and then come in here to jump on her bed.

Tomorrow was a busy day. Upon waking up she made breakfast for Hikaru, Haku, and herself. After eating she made some bunshins. One to henge into Ran to look at new aparments, a large four bedroom maybe. Another henged into Zoro to meet with Asuma to talk about the first steps to creating a second affinity. Another henged as Ran went to the bank to see how much she had and to take some out to go shopping for some food and stuff.

A regular bunshin went off to visit Hinata at the hospital, since Naome decided she'd probably be too busy this afternoon to go. Finally, the original decided today would be spent in the training grounds with Hikaru-chan, where she would start getting ready for the final round of the chunin exams and beating Neji!

Hikaru-chan loved watching her train. She could admit to showing off just a bit just for him whenever she brought him with her. He would always squeel with glee at the right times, and always applauded when she hit the bull's eye or performed a particularly impressive move against one of her bunshins.

"Kaa-chan, sugoi!" He giggled, having fun with the new word he had learned from Haku-jiji. Naome was as proud as ever that he was so far ahead of his peers, although she wondered if he would have trouble making friends because of it.

"I wanna!" Naome turned from the target she was facing to see Hikaru punching a tree with his tiny fists. He laughed and did it again and again, he thought hitting the tree like his kaa-chan was hilarious. Naome wasn't sure how she felt about it.

She remembered Danzo's suggestion of early admission. She had been against the idea at the time because she didn't think he'd be ready for it. She didn't want him starting the shinobi path too soon. Now she watched him punch at the tree and she wondered. Was she holding him back?

"That's very good Hikaru-chan." She praised him lightly, smiling a little sadly when he turned to her for encouragment. She walked up to him and took the one year old baby's hands in her own. The little fists didn't look like her's at all. Her hands were roucher, calloused. No scars, she healed too fast, but they weren't the dainty hands of a civilian girl.

"Hikaru-chan, come on. We're going to a new restaurant!" She said cheerfully, pulling the baby up and into her arms as she left training early. She would introduce Ino and the rest of team 7 to Hikaru-chan today over barbeque. She wondered how they'd react.

She couldn't tell them _everything_ of course. Certainly nothing about Orochimaru or about her sudden wealth. Couldn't mention a word about exactly how she managed to consitently lie to them without them knowing about it.

"So you've been lying about all of this?" She couldn't wrap her mind around it. Naome, the girl she'd begun respecting in Nami, was a single mother of a year old baby boy? The two pictures, that of a motherly Naome, and that of the controlled kunoichi, didn't match up. A little piece of Sakura's world had been torn off and something unrecognizable stood in it's place.

"I had to." Naome defended herself. She hadn't expected an angry interrogation.

"Why didn't you just get an abortion?" Sakura regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth. She wished she could grab them mid-air and force them back down her throat. She hadn't meant it like that! She didn't mean to-!

For her part, Naome couldn't say anything. She was mentally and emotionally exhausted after sharing her story. Why did it get harder to tell with each retelling? Maybe because each time she hid a little more of the big picture?

The silence was stilted, uncomfortable and even Hikaru seemed to sense that a line had been crossed. A couple attempts to break the silence occured and it was with serious effort that Ino managed.

"He does look like you." Ino muttered, tickling Hikaru's cheeks to make him giggle and grin. The whiskers produced an uncanny resemblance. He hardly looked like his father at all, a true blessing. It seemed the only thing he inherited from that side was a Y chromosome.

Naome turned her thoughts away from that. She didn't want to think of him anymore than absolutely necessary and contemplating where Hikaru-chan got his looks wasn't helping. If she thought about that night she'd get moody and depressed and that could not happen since she had another act tonight. Nina was making a new appearance as mother of the last of a bone weilding clan.

_Bunshin with Hinata, Konoha Hospital!_

"None? Why not?" Hinata's room was bare. A couple get well cards from her team, a flower from the bunshin, but that was it. The room was unbearably white, almost blinding. Naome was reminded why she didn't like hospitals.

"I-I f-f-failed." She stuttered in answer, as though that explained everything.

"Hinata-chan, nobody would ever learn anything if nobody ever failed once or twice. Falling isn't important," She leaned in a little, like she was going to share a secret.

"It's getting back up again that we have to remember." Maybe Hinata got it, maybe she didn't. Naome had done what little she could for now.

"After you get out of here, you and me got some training to do! We both need to get stronger!" Hinata's shoulders seem to release the tension they'd held and she nodded in agreement.

"When are you getting discharged?" She asked finally.

"Next week. The d-d-doctor's say I s-s-s-should take it easy for t-two weeks though." She added, bending her head down a little.

"Alright then, we'll start with light training and work our way up!" The blonde said with enthusiasm. The hospital visit wound down after that, until a nurse came in and told her stiffly that it was time to go. Naome found it ironic that the nurse seemed to hesitate in asking her to leave. Did it have to do with Hinata's lack of visitors?

"Hinata? I'll be back tommorrow too, okay?" That was more than she could've hoped for and the young Hyuuga nodded timidly. Naome flashed another smile before walking out the door, then the hospital. Once lost among the throng of civilians, she popped. The cloud of smoke was cleared by the heavy migration of other people almost without being seen.

_First Ran bunshin!_

The Ran bunshin had been looking at places for rent in the better parts of town and she found a place to fall in love with. A four bedroom house with two bathrooms, a decent sized kitchen, and one of those super long windows in the living room that reach from floor to ceiling. It had a small backyard with a stump she could use for training, there was an area perfect for a garden, but the best part came when she was shown the attic.

She'd think of something for Yoshino and the others, but for now she was busy trying to figure out at what rate she'd have to make money in order to afford the rent when her S-rank pay dwindled away. With the amount of people in her apartment, she could make enough to pay for it all easily.

For rent it was 40,000 yen a month but if she bought it then it cost 100,000 yen. Expensive, but it was perfect and she could still keep ownership of her apartment by having the cheques sent through the mail rather than in person.

She signed the contract and wrote a cheque to the old owner. She'd be moved in by the end of the week!

_Original Naome and Hikaru-chan, Walking the Streets._

Naome recieved the memories of all her bunshins. Asuma's advice about second affinities, needed to become jounin, was very helpful. She'd work on that later. She'd also make sure to bring some pretty flowers and more get well cards and baskets for Hinata, she needed more color in that room. That house was also amazing! She couldn't wait for the move!

She was in such a good mood she held Hikaru in her arms and spun round and round to make him laugh and smile just like her. Things were looking up and now that her little S-rank mission was behind her the rest of the exams would be smooth sailing! Hikaru-chan wasn't getting taken away, they were moving to a newer, bigger home, and she'd finally gotten around to telling Sasuke and Sakura about Hikaru!

Her good mood dimmed a little when she thought of it. Sakura hadn't apologized, she'd only fast walked without saying anything else. She didn't understand what was wrong there. Was Sakura angry at her? How dare she suggest something like an abortion! It was immoral, it was wrong, it physically pained her to think of life without Hikaru!

"Kaa-chan?" Hikaru was curious why they had stopped spinning and laughing. Naome wasn't sure, but she couldn't explain to a one year old, albeit a genius one, why Sakura's words had hurt her so much.

_Apartment, 1:45 AM._

Naome downed a cup of coffee in one go and looked at the clock in annoyance. She sighed before performing a henge into Nina, just in case they came early or something. Now in the form of an old woman she shifted uncomfortably on the hard wooden chair at her kitchen table.

Physical transformations, something not normally possible with the henge but something that came naturally to her. She was never told it was impossible so she had subconciously bypassed the limits and upgraded the jutsu to some affect.

Physical henge though was annoying. She'd had a heart attack when Asuma had taken Zoro drinking and her bunshin had gotten aroused. Being a guy was so weird! Of course, following this logic turning into an old woman also sucked. Mostly because her bones clicked and clacked in places they shouldn't and her knees and back hurt a bit. The wrinkles were uncomfortable and old people clothes were just ew.

1:53, she still had some time before they arrived. She assumed Kabuto was delivering the girl, although she'd like a chance to find a new spy to tell Hokage-jiji about. That'd be cool but she didn't want to risk anymore stupid S-rank missions that made her hair turn grey.

Nina frowned as a stray _grey_ hair fell over her eye. Great, now she was making bad puns about life threatening situations. She was insane, that was the only explanation.

A knock on the door, a glance at the clock, 2:00. They were right on time. Nina quickly walked to the door and checked to make sure before she opened it. She was surprised but her body didn't betray anything. Why was Mizuki-sensei here?

"I was expecting someone else." She said demurely, looking over the silver haired chunin in front of her.

"Kabuto-san will be busy for the next month so he's ordered me to make myself avaliable if you need anything." Mizuki said calmly, entering the open door with a small girl following behind him.

She had white hair, two weird eye brow dots that made her eyes look bigger than they were, and she was pale. She couldn't have been more than five years old. She was wearing a white kimono, it made her look like a ghost.

"I am Mizuki." Nina politely introduced herself as she looked pointedly at the scrolls in his arms. What were those for?

"So another konoha nin belongs to the sound, how exciting." She had jinxed herself. That was the only explanation. Why Mizuki-sensei though? Why was he a spy?

"Orochimaru-sama's ideals are much better than those of konoha." Mizuki said sagely. As though he were conversing about the secret of life or something. He looked totally zen when he said that. Why her sensei?

"So this is the little Kaguya, what is your name?" She asked, addressing the five year old standing awkwardly in her living room.

"No Name." Came the whispered reply, eyes turning down cast. No Name would not do, not for a cute little girl.

"These scrolls hold information about her clan's techniques that she can study." Mizuki carefully set them on the coffee table. Nina looked them over with an appraising eye, nodding in acknowledgement.

Mizuki left, bowing deeply in respect to Nina, and then it was just her and No Name. For a few minutes they appraised each other, like old friends who had met after years of seperation and were trying to figure out where they stood now.

"A cute little girl like you needs a name, would you like me to pick one?" The girl blinked in surprise before nodding hesitantly, as though afraid she'd renegade on her promise.

"Yurei, because you remind me of a little ghost all dressed in white." The girl blinked once and then nodded, her lips slowly forming the word, testing it on her tongue.

"Well Yurei, I don't doubt you are tired so let's put you to bed. Tommorrow is a busy day." The girl nodded and allowed herself to be led to Hikaru's room, where a cot had been set up for her. Nina tucked the girl in automatically before saying good night and sneaking out before she woke up Hikaru-chan.

"Good night, Nina-sama." Came a small voice. It would have to do for now. Maybe she'd be more lively in the morning.

Nina passed by the living room and looked at the empty couch. Haku never came home. She was a little worried about explaining the arrival of a five year old ghost. Where was he? Would he be here in the morning?

Her henge faded and she appeared as Naome again, wearing her pajamas and barefoot. An eleven year old girl still trying to work up the energy to finish the trip to her bedroom. She slowly gathered up the scrolls while she thought of what needed to be done tommorrow. She had to find a way to reveal her true self to Yurei, figure out where Haku was, see her sensei about training, and start packing to move into her new house. She'd also have to report to the Hokage.

In her room she carefully checked for anything out of place, a habit she'd started after Kabuto's team baby sat for her. Probably useless since anyone who broke in would probably be good enough to leave no traces, but it set her mind at ease.

2:30, time sure does fly when one _tries_ to fall asleep. Naome sighed and rolled away from the glaring numbers of her alarm clock. She needed her sleep, staring at the clock wasn't helping, she had things to do in the morning. She also needed to talk to Anko-nee and Shikamaru too, explain some things, why she'd been acting strangely lately, about Yurei, or at least a cover story for the five year old.

The next morning was interesting, to say the least. Ran exitted the bedroom and checked up on the kids, finding them both still asleep, then quickly went to whip some breakfast. Then it was time to wake them up to actually eat it.

Hikaru-chan was up in an instant and excitedly babbling away about anything and tripping over the words his little mouth couldn't form properly yet. Yurei though was more sluggish, she looked confused to see Ran and not Nina, but didn't ask questions. Had she been informed about 'Nina's' disguise?

A kage bunshin was formed after breakfast to take Hikaru to Day Care, and then Ran changed into Nina with a hidden sign. Yurei straightened up noticably and looked a little worried. Maybe even a little afraid?

"Yurei-chan, tell me how much you were told about me." Nina smiled in what could be akinned to a grandmother smiling at her granddaughter.

"Ano, Nina-san will be training me to be a good weapon. That is all I was told." Came the too quiet voice. She made Hinata sound out spoken.

"I have different forms though Yurei, and you will have to learn them now. This is my Nina form." Yurei nodded curiously. If she had eye brows Nina bet they'd be scrunched up in confusion. Nina changed into Ran.

"This is Ran Yurichi, I use this one most often when I'm interacting with common villagers." The girl nodded, seeming to follow her so far. Nina changed into Zoro.

"With this form I interact with higher ranked shinobi, this is Zoro Roronoa." Her head tilted a little to the side before the nod came. Nina dropped the henge and became Naome.

"This is my true form, Naome Uzumaki, mother of Hikaru Uzumaki. As of now I am also your caretaker." Yurei blinked before hesitantly nodding. It was so obvious she was confused that it wasn't even funny. Reading little kids is so much fun!

"Now then Yurei-chan, you will follow my bunshin who will take you to a secluded place for training." A poof and then another bunshin appeared to carry the girl away. Now that she knew how big the kaguya girl was, another bunshin could go shopping for clothes that didn't make her look like a ghost.

Bunshins made to do her various chores, Naome set out for Shikamaru. She needed to give him the uneditted version of what had been happening the past few weeks. Even if she couldn't tell him about Orochimaru, she could still get some comfort and advice about Yurei.

Shikamaru was at his house, for once. Naome entered with a little trepidition but managed to smile reassuringly at Yoshino. She didn't know Ran's true identity after all and was a little startled to see Naome on her door step. Hopefully she wouldn't be too upset.

"Troublesome, come in!" She opened the door to his room and took the chance to take a good look around. She'd never been in his room before. It was pretty basic, a bed, dresser, shogi board, just the things a lazy genius needed to be comfortable.

"Naome, you don't usually meet up with me until lunch." Shikamaru was sitting on his bed with a book in his lap, evidently he had been reading something from his clan archives rather than napping.

"I need major advice...plus I got money to pay for food!" With the added incentive it didn't take long for Shikamaru to decide he could tag along with the troublesome girl.

Ichiraku's was her first, most obvious choice. On top of the food, ramen, being the absolute best thing since sliced bread, the atmosphere, the duo, was wonderful. Today though she wanted privacy, where they couldn't be overheard easily. A crowded place would provide lots of background noise and hopefully they'd be able to blend in to keep from being visible, or too visible anyway. Blonde hair and whisker marks was infamous in this village.

So a dango shop, busy as the lunchtime rush hour came to it's peak, was the perfect setting. The owner hadn't looked closely enough at her to be bothered by her presence, or maybe he just didn't care, so they ordered their food and sat down in the middle of the room. The corner would be better, if you were a civilian. For a shinobi though who wanted to remain unnoticed the middle of the room was best since it made them seem more open, like they had nothing to hide.

"For now I can't tell you a lot but there's this one problem I am in desperate need of advice for." Shikamaru sighed and took a long drink from his soda. Chunin level and above shinobi were allowed alcoholic beverages, but genin, even one that went through such BS as her, were forbidden from it.

_Zoro Bunshin, with Yurei._

If anyone saw Ran, a civilian, teaching Yurei questions would pop up. An unknown chunin was safer, especially as he was technically known by a couple higher leveled shinobi like Asuma and Kurenai. Although Yurei might still draw some questions, he could at least pass it off as helping out a friendly academy student, if he stretched her age a bit.

Yurei was good. For a five year old anyway, but definitely good. Leaps and bounds ahead of kids with two, maybe even three years, over her. She could throw kunai and shuriken with reliable accuracy, her taijutsu although weak was firm and supple, pliable would be the word, and as for her clan bloodline, well he didn't have much to compare it to.

The Kaguya clan was supposedly extinct, that they weren't was surprising. The information he found was little more than some throw away lines but apparently their gekki genkai was the Dead Bone Pulse. They could use their own skeleton as a weapon, drawing it out of their body and using it to fight.

At the moment he had set Yurei to working on her upper body strength by doing push ups. She was going at it without complaint or the short attention span people her age were famous for. She was struggling with each push, her muscles weren't developed enough to do this for any length of time. She was already tired.

"That's enough Yurei, now run laps until you get too tired." The five year old nodded wordlessly and began her run. Zoro sighed and looked at the scroll in his hands. There were several step by step instructions to using the Dead Bone Pulse and the 'dances' that were it's taijutsu styles. It looked needlessly complicated.

"N-Zoro-sensei, I'm finished." She ran three laps around the training ground, not bad for a five year old. He was impressed. Although she'd have to figure out how not to accidentally let his secret identity slip.

"I have a better idea of where you are in your physical training now. So let's see about your chakra." Today might be a good day. Especially if he could get the kid to crack at least one smile. If he failed he'd subject himself to Takimura's bar and the 'loving' ministrations of the new counter girl.

...Oh crap he sounded like Gai-sensei and Bushy Brows! Before he knew it he'd henge into spandex! And scream about the Springtime of Youth! NOOOO!

_Original Naome and Shikamaru, Dango Shop!_

"Adoption would be the easiest to explain but it's flimsy. She doesn't have any papers, and stands out." His eyes were closed, his fingers all met eachother to form a circle in front of him. His dango was untouched and it was tempting to steal a stick or two.

"Take things slowly at first, ease her into village life. Let her play at the park so other kids can see her. If it works, by time you enter her into the academy then no one is going to question her existence." She nodded silently, carefully watching in case he opened his eyes as her hand slowly reached out.

"Enter her at seven, the usual starting age. Till then keep her training slow. Have you reported to the hokage yet?" She mentally pouted as she had to pull her arm back when he opened his eyes and took up a stick of the gooey sweets. She'd been so close!

"A bunshin is doing that now. We'll learn sooner or later what he thinks!" She sighed before asking the waittress to bring another plate. She was still so hungry and then she had to find her teammates. She couldn't stand having bad blood between her friends and herself. She needed to talk to Sakura.

_In the Hokage's Office!_

"Anyway I named her Yurei because all dressed in white with white hair...she kind of looked like a ghost." Hmm, now that she thought about it, ghost might not be the best name for a five year old girl. Why didn't she ever think these things through?

"I see." A wisp of smoke floated from his lips as he let out a long breath. Smoking his pipe was an old man's vice but every shinobi worth his kunai had some vice. His son, Asuma, had a love for nicotine as well.

"I will have some evidence dug up on Mizuki. As for Yurei, papers can be arranged. Enroll her at seven, the usual starting age." Naome's bunshin nodded. Hiruzen mentally sighed when he thought back on the misguided chunin. To have someone he once thought had the Will of Fire turn traitor wounded his old heart. It did him good to see Naome, someone who risked much by shining with her own Will.

She risked more than she maybe realized. If Orochimaru discovered her true identity then Naome _and_ her son would be killed. There would be no witnesses. He must do his utmost to ensure his predecessor's daughter and grandson's lives.

"You are dismissed." Naome looked at him oddly for a moment before she dispelled. She was good at reading people, did she see something in him? He wasn't sure what she might have seen, and he wondered if he wanted to know.

He set his pipe down, now unlit, and turned to look at the paperwork in front of him. Order forms for new kunai and shuriken, repair bills for training grounds and notices on certain shinobi who were in need of a vacation before they snapped. The typical things that a kage had to sort through and sign.

The civilian paperwork was much more numerous, not to mention tedious, and the pile was large no matter the time of day. Always the citizens seemed to need something else signed for so they could thrive in the dangerous land of a shinobi village. Once there was a time he could sign them without looking, before Naome was born, before his friends stopped supporting him, before his student turned traitor.

He was an old man, ancient by anyone's standards. His bones cricked with every move, silent to all but his years. Even his internal body followed the shinobi code, it stayed silent and he bore the pain of old age. He would curse the fox everytime he stepped from bed and his hip faltered before being reinforced with his own chakra. He could have been enjoying retirement.

Now he reached for a pen with a hand that had killed more people than books he had read. A hand grisled and gnarled, but still more than strong and nimble enough to throw kunai, form seals. They were scarred and calloused, there was a missing chunk in his ring finger from having a kunai stab his hand as a youth.

He sighed and turned around to look over the village. Orochimaru was once his most promising student, and he had loved him too much to see the monster he was becoming. He had been so foolish back then, and if only he had been able to kill him ten years ago, this wouldn't be happening.

Routinely he filled out the paperwork, added costs, signed mission scrolls with his seal of approval. It was familiar, after all these years. Now he could let his mind wander to other things, while a different part of his brain figured together the amount of kunai used in a year on average and how much he should pay for in surplus.

_Original Naome and Shikamaru, Dango Shop._

Now was probably the best chance he'd gotten in the past week. He could say it now, get it all in the air so that they could discuss it and he could move on to less troublesome things. He could tell he was interested in a relationship, a serious one. He'd ask if it was too troublesome to date a guy like him, a number one coward.

He put it off until Naome was done eating and was about to pay the bill. He went so far as to open his mouth to speak before his mind derailed.

The Suna genin team, with that jinchuriki Gaara, walked in and stared at the two konoha genin already present. He read the lips of the woman, who was suggesting they find somewhere else to eat. He read the jinchuriki's lips with more difficulty, he said that he didn't care where they ate.

"Shika?" He turned away from reading the blonde girl's reply to face another troublesome blonde.

"Are we good to go?" He asked. Naome nodded, leaving a tip for the waittress. They sidled past the Suna team, and he shivered from the KI traces coming from the redhead. That guy was seriously screwed in the head, way too troublesome.

They left the Dango Shop and were walking up the street towards their training ground. Shikamaru ordered himself to speak, to play out the script he'd written in his head, but he stayed silent and hunched, moving at a pace that was almost too slow to be a walk.

"Hey Shikamaru, what were you going to say before those guys showed up?" This was his chance, now all he had to do was get the troublesome words to form on his tongue and out of his lips.

"Nothing important, troublesome girl." He didn't look at her, because he knew she'd be able to tell he was lying. She'd get angry then and demand him tell her what he wanted to say.

Normally Naome would have called him on his lie. Normally she'd pout angrily for a minute before trying to wheedle out his thoughts. On the normal, typical, boring, predictable day, she'd do this. Today wasn't normal.

She was stressed because she wasn't sure what Sakura thought about Hikaru, or how she'd react to an even bigger secret like the Kyuubi. She had an emotionally retarded five year old to deal with. She had to worry about being murdered by a felllow, albeit insane, jinchuriki. She hadn't seen Haku since the day before yesterday and hadn't heard anything so she was worried.

She didn't know he could read lips. He never told her, and she never suspected because nothing ever came up that required this skill. She saw him stare below the eye line of the blonde with Gaara though, and this made her feel something entirely new. She wasn't sure she liked it either.

She walked in silence, arms up and reaching behind her head in the casual walk she'd perfected. Did he like that blonde girl? Naome was blonde too! Or was it something else? What did that stupid Temari girl have that she didn't have?

Okay so she had a lot of troublesome drama, like Hikaru, Orochimaru, the Kyuubi. Sure, she wasn't exactly miss popularity. Alright so she didn't really wear anything really girly and her hair was short again.

Temari was the daughter of a kage, she wore feminine clothing and was definitely strong. She had four pigtails, so she had long hair. She didn't have any drama except for her little brother being a crazy jinchuriki.

They were both blonde, both were wind types, she was probably more expierienced. They had plenty enough in common, but maybe Shikamaru didn't like her like that because they were friends?

Jealousy, wasn't that this feeling's name? It was warm, hot actually, and seemed to flow through her body almost like anger but more concentrated. She was jealous of Temari because it looked like Shikamaru might be interested in her, instead of Naome.

This revelation brought down her mood considerably and her fire affinity training didn't progress as much as she'd like it to during training that day. Shikamaru had to leave for some clan training after a while, and she briefly thought about asking what he thought about the suna genin girl. She almost did, almost.

The bunshins had finished moving everything to the new apartment, they had even unpacked most of the furniture and clothes. She just had to rearrange everything until she was satisfied. She decided to leave the walls as they were, a cornflower blue all over, and she began hanging paintings.

She'd have to send Akane her next work by the end of the week. She had decided to do a portrait of Yurei in a field in the middle of night. She pictured it in her mind and had decided it was perfect for the next in her series.

Before that though she set up Hikaru's bedroom, then Yurei's. Her bunshin had gone a little over the top and clothes shopping had changed into wardrobe shopping, and then furniture. She decided to hold off painting the room until Yurei chose a color. She wanted the kid to be as comfortable as possible!

With this done it was time to bring Hikaru and Yurei home and make supper. She also sent a bunshin to the old apartment, in case Haku showed up. She'd also send a bunshin to jiji and report him missing if he didn't show up by dinnertime. That was the rule after all, wait a while before reporting a missing person if they were a shinobi.

He was on probation, meaning that he wasn't allowed to leave the village, but he could still do D-rank missions to earn some income. She supposed he might be interviewing his potential wives, but shouldn't he have come back and told her so she wouldn't worry? She hoped he was okay.

At supper she asked Yurei questions about her life in Oto. Apparently she'd been training since she was old enough to walk, she had lived with her mother until the woman tried to kill her. Apparently it was because she considered Yurei a monster and was ashamed of having her. This made Naome very angry of course, and she mentally cussed the woman out for doing something like that to her own child, but it wasn't like she could do anything about it now. She'd just have to show Yurei she wasn't the monster she said she was.

It was...kind of sad to see how excited a five year old could be when gifted with a couple dolls and her own room. Excitement at living somewhere new was to be expected, but Yurei-chan was positively tickled pink to have the dolls. She'd never had a toy before.

"Yurei-chan, do you have a favorite color? You can choose whatever you like and we'll paint this room together." Naome asked, looking over the walls like she was already planning out what designs she'd add later.

"A-Ano, I like brown." Naome looked down at her and smiled. So she had an opinion, that's good. She was still young enough that Naome would be able to salvage her childhood. Hopefully Yurei would learn to be more than just a tool.

"Alright, I'll send a bunshin to buy some paint and we'll work on it tomorrow." Naome nodded, satisfied with her plan.

Well, a bunshin would help anyway. The next day though Naome would be busy going to the hot springs with Hikaru as part of her plan of revealing his true parentage. It would be slow going of course, but showing up at the hot springs to bathe with him should start some rumors, which she could manipulate so Hikaru-chan would be safe from her prejudices.

Hikaru-chan was excited about it. He hardly ever got to go outside with his real kaa-chan and he saw it as a treat. Almost like going to a festival. Which reminded her about the Kyuubi festival coming up in two months. She would be going out again as herself with Anko, and maybe Shikamaru. She'd also bring Hikaru because by then she hoped everyone would be settled down after learning about her son.

As it were, she never got to soak in the springs that day. Because just as she was passing outside the women's section she saw a familiar sight. The white haired lech she first met after catching him spying on her as Ran was at it again. Didn't he learn his lesson?

For a moment she wasn't sure what to do. Should she reveal his identity? It seemed like the only logical choice. Besides, she hadn't been too bothered by it last time because she'd been heavily pregnant. And it wasn't even her real body. Now though, it just felt a little too wrong. Plus, she was with her young and very impressionable son. No way was she raising a pervert!

So she took a deep quiet breath, crouched down to cover her son's ears, and screamed.

"PERVERT!" The result was instantanious, within miliseconds kunoichi and civilian alike were over the fence and wrapped in towels as they charged the white haired man watching in the strangest mixture of horror and esctasy. Some of the women were only holding the towels over their body, without actually wrapping it around them.

After several minutes of brutal beating upon his mortal shell, Jiraiya was forgotten as the women returned to their baths or left. Leaving behind a broken man with a lechorous grin and a bloody nose.

"Hikaru-chan, this is what happens to men who peep on women." Her son had his mouth hanging open and was obviously very scared after the act of feminine fury had passed.

"That was a dirty trick Naome." She looked at the miraculously recovered sannin and couldn't find even a hint of a bruise. It was to be expected, he was a sannin and even a kunoichi wouldn't be able to do lasting damage with only her fists.

"It was justice. I'm pretty sure there are some laws against this kind of thing. Or if not there should be." She muttered in reply. Her plans for a soak were completely derailed now, but maybe she could swing this in her favor.

"If you want though I can show you the Orioke no jutsu in exchange for something." Of course she'd be sure that Hikaru wasn't watching. She was not spoiling her son's innocence in the matter. She didn't care that he probably wouldn't remember when he was this little, she wasn't taking the chance!

"Orioke no jutsu?" Jiraiya repeated, his eyes wide and a grin spreading along his wrinkled face. Alright she had him hooked, now to reel the line.

She had invented it as a way to see how she could hide the pregnancy in her own form. Turns out it would be impossible, since she couldn't change her mass at all. The baby was still there and had to stay there. She was too afraid to try to move that mass somewhere else.

She had jokingly dubbed it the sexy jutsu after Hikaru was born and her flat stomach returned. She figured that she'd never actually need it though. Jiraiya was a special case, but one she was willing to exploit to the fullest. If she could get a sannin to train her, she'd be hokage in no time flat!

Naome left Hikaru with a bunshin, feeling a little bad about not going in person, and she and Jiraiya stood opposite eachother as she made the signs for a henge. A poof of smoke later and an older Naome appeared, with long pigtails and steam covering the sensitive bits. She was leaning slightly forward for an excellent view of her cleavage and smiling demurely up at the white haired sannin.

Who promptly lost enough blood to fill a blood bank and began writing furiously into a little notebook. Something told Naome she'd be show-casing in the next Icha Icha. She was slightly interested in reading about that but only for the plot! Just the plot...Don't look at her like that.

"Ne, Jiraiya-sensei can you teach me a few tricks?" Oh the context! She felt a little dirty for using it but it had a high rate of success according to the women in the brothels. They'd been good to an orphan girl, taught her a few interesting tricks of the trade, and had acted as kindly as can be expected from girls dressing as women and women dressing as girls could be.

"Happy ending!" Jiraiya screamed, falling over with his eyes rolled into the back of his head. It seemed he had finally lost too much blood and in an effort to save him his body had shut down.

Her henge dropped away and she looked down at the incapicitated legend. Should she do something? She should definitely be doing something, she was sure of it.

She looked around her uncertainly, not seeing anybody but hearing voices behind the women's bathing barrier. Her bunshin and Hikaru-chan were in there, spreading the love so to speak. No one else was here to see what she had done to a well respected (?) shinobi. She could just walk away like it never happened.

But then she'd never get the training he promised, now would she? With this in mind she decided to do what any responsible and experienced shinobi would do in this situation. First, she made sure that he was still breathing. Breathing was pretty important.

If it was too slow, that meant the blood loss might seriously be affecting him. Too fast and he might be faking it, which would lead to her jumping up and down on his stomach in retribution.

Well, his breathing was steady, so she decided to go with the tried and ture splash-him-with-water-to-wake-him-up method. Of course, the only water immediately avaliable was steaming spring water. Naome chose to interpret as karma and swiftly filled a bucket full.

This annoyed the self proclaimed toad hermit, who proceeded to childishly refuse her any training because of what she did. Which then led to her threatening to scream 'pervert' again. He then tried to tell her a half thought out word of advice as his part of the deal, before she reminded him that he agreed to her terms even before learning that she wanted training.

In the end, he gave up in a way that shouted I-am-only-doing-this-because-I-feel-like-it. She didn't much care, so long as his training didn't include peeping on women with her son around.

They went to a secluded area, with a forked river. That was when Jiraiya whipped out the summoning contract.

"You're letting _me_ sign it?" She questioned him suspiciously. At most she thought he would give her a scroll with a couple jutsu on it and be on his merry way. Giving her his summons though, was a lot more complicated.

Shinobi did not take on apprentices, at least not in the civilian definition of the word. They taught the next generation their techniques, molded them into becoming figures like them if not exact duplicates. _CoughBushyBrowscough!_ In this way jutsu did not die out with the creator, although it helps that they are written down in scrolls later on.

The closest thing shinobi had to a true apprenticeship though, were summoning contracts. By allowing someone to sign that contract you were essentially making yourself their guardian. You had ultimate authority over what this new summoner learns, and how he or she lives.

The summons teach the summoner is how the saying went, but it is the summoner who chooses the next wielder. While summoning contracts themselves weren't exactly rare, usually they only popped up every few decades. She was probably the only one within twenty, maybe thirty, years who had been given the option.

It was a big decision, and if she had been a little less knowledgable and a little more naive, she'd have jumped at the chance. This wasn't just some genin though, and when she asked him to teach her something she hadn't expected anything more than reluctant instructions for a B-rank jutsu.

This was a great honor, and she mentally prepped herself to make sure she didn't fall short of expectations. If anything she fully intended to blow any and all expectations out of the water, like the one about her losing to Neji at the final phase of the exams. No way was that happening!

Her canine pierced her thumb and she carefully scripted her name, before adding her finger prints on the bottom. She was officially signed over to the Toad contract and Jiraiya as her new teacher.

"Alright, just make the hand signs and offer an offering of blood." He showed her the signs and she renicked her thumb, since it had already healed, and she poured chakra into the technique. There was a poof of smoke, much smaller than she had hoped for, and it cleared away to reveal a huge disappointment.

"A tadpole!" She cried in outrage, faux glaring down at the baby frog she had summoned rather than the full grown toad she had imagined.

"Try more chakra." Jiraiya quipped absently, not even facing her. Apparently on the fork of the stream on the other side of some bushes a few girls in bikinis had showed up to take advantage of Fire country's warm waters.

Naome tried not to be upset about that and she obediently went about training. If the key to getting a big toad was chakra then she had to up the amount, logically. She hoped this wasn't a Chakra-Control-is-crucial thing, because even with all her training in that area it was subpar. She'd never be able to do medical jutsu, of that she was certain.

Five hours of training showed no progress. All she got, no matter how much chakra she used, was a tadpole. It wasn't the same tadpole, sometimes it was orange, or red, or green with red spots, but it was always a tadpole nonetheless. It never even grew legs!

She left training more than a little discouraged and wondering what Jiraiya thought about her attempts. He was probably hoping for some amazing genius, but he was going to be disappointed. Everything Naome got in life was through a mixture of hardwork and luck. A little more hardwork than luck though.

She left a few Adult Civilian bunshins around to hear and manipulate the rumors around, and maybe gather a little intel, hopefully someone might mention Haku! Yurei and the bunshin had finished the room, and it was tastefully done.

Yurei was also positively ecstatic over the princess bedspread she'd been gifted with. It was almost heartbreaking to see a little girl so happy about a pretty blanket. Naome was forced to confront the fact that in comparison, her life really wasn't all that bad. She thought she had a bad childhood, but there is always someone who has had it worse.

She hoped she never met the child who had it worse than Yurei, she had a feeling she was hoping in vain though and acted accordingly.

With the kids down for the night she left a bunshin in case one or the other woke up while she left to file that report. She was worried for her friend, and she was tired of being in the dark. After so long of being able to see what was going on around her suddenly becoming blind turned out to be a real problem. She'd deal with that in time though.

"Hey Hokage-sama, have you seen Haku by any chance?" It wasn't really rule of thumb for shinobi to report to the Hokage directly for every mission, but for ones on probation it was necessary. Hence why she was striding into his office via window at ten in the afternoon.

"...Oh, nevermind!" Who was seeing the hokage so late in the day but none other than Haku himself, along with three women. One of which was definitely Kiba's older sister. There were also three dogs, and Shiho was here!

"Naome-san!" Haku _almost_ gaped. He hadn't been expecting the most unpredictable shinobi in Konoha to pop up out of nowhere like that.

"Where've you been anyway? You haven't been around at all lately! Are these your girlfriends? Were you staying with one of them? How come you didn't tell me? Hikaru-chan misses his jiji and I was kinda worried!" She could be excused for being a little loud. She had been worried and he had been missing for days! Days!

"Gomen Naome-san, Hana's clan needed some ceremonies done before she was allowed to sign the agreement." It was explained that since Hana came from the Inuzuka clan, she had to go through certain ceremonies and Haku through many 'tests' to be sure that he was worthy of marrying the head's daughter.

Since the child would be half Inuzuka, he or she would be raised like one. They would be given a dog familiar and trained in the Inuzuka fighting style with certain aspects changed to work with their ice bloodline. Since Haku had passed the tests, the marriage contract could be signed without anymore complications.

For the other girls nothing near as complicated was needed. The civilian had signed herself up because she wanted the 'honor' of bearing a hot shinobi's children. Shiho was eligible because she was a kunoichi in the appropriate age range and single, on top of not really protesting. Were all single kunoichi signed up on the list?

Naome made a mental note to make sure she wasn't on it next time she came to the tower. Right now, she just gave Haku her new address so he could get some real sleep after he finished there and then left. She was tired and had some more summoning training in the morning.

For a week she exhausted her chakra in a bunshin battle royale and then tried to summon. She wasn't sure why he was having her exhaust herself first though. Wouldn't it just be harder to summon if she was tired?

It took four days before she realized what he was trying to do.

She hadn't used the Kyuubis chakra since the forest of death, and had reapplied the Siphon tag right after in case anything happened. She wore it all the time now, putting it on every morning as soon as she woke up. She slapped it onto her right shoulder blade while in the bathroom and didn't give it a thought afterwards.

She was leaving on the fifth day when she decided to figure out the mystery. Why would Jiraiya-san purposely try to make her draw that chakra? Why should she draw on something that almost destroyed the village on the day she was born?

"Ero-sensei, did you know the Kyuubi's chakra clouds my mind everytime I use it? That because of it I almost killed a friend, and nearly lost control when trying to _defend_ my teammates from your old teammate?" He gave no indication that he heard her, but she knew he was listening. If he wasn't he'd still be giggling and writing things in his little notepad.

"I can only assume you have a good reason for trying to make me use it, but I don't care." She continued, a little quieter, more serious this time.

"For a long time now I've been training day in and day out because I want to be strong, I want to be the Hokage someday. _I_ am the one who wants to grow strong, even though I have such a long way to go." He turned to look at her this time and she let her emotions show. He had to know she was serious.

"My name is Naome Uzumaki, genin of Konohagakure, mother of Hikaru Uzumaki and guardian of Yurei Kaguya, future Hokage. If I can't reach my goal without using a crutch like the Kyuubi, then I don't deserve it." She turned her back on him now and she walked away. She was going to pick up Hikaru and Yurei at the Day Care. She'd ask Yurei-chan if she had made any new friends, and they'd stop by Ichiraku's for dinner.

"Kaa-chan, Tsuna-baka pulled Yurei-nee's hair!" Hikaru cried as soon as she went to the back, where they were playing. Hikaru was allowed to play with the slightly older kids so long as Yurei kept an eye on him. Yurei didn't mind at all, in fact she thought having an otouto was cute!

"Hikaru-chan it's not polite to call people names. Did he say sorry?" She greeted him with an exasperated smile. Tsuna Asawado was four, big for his age and disliked Yurei because she had white hair.

"He won't!" The one year old cried in frustration, tears leaking from his eyes.

"I'm sorry Uzumaki-san, but Yurei-chan is a troublemaker." Naome blinked before facing the care taker, who was in charge of the facility. She didn't like that Naome had been added to Ran's checkout list, she liked it even less that Hikaru had the same last name as her.

"Troublemaker? That doesn't sound like Yurei-chan to me. She's never been any trouble for me at all." She said carefully. It could be that Yurei had really done something worthy of a scolding, but this didn't ring true.

"Yurei-chan was very rude to Tsuna-kun, she pushed him and then when I tried to intervene she broke a picture frame." A lie, the caretaker was lying to her. Naome glanced over to Yurei-chan, who was looking down at the ground with her little hands clenched into fists. She was wearing a pretty purple sundress and shorts underneath. Yurei didn't look like she could swat a fly, even if she tried.

She also hid a bruise on her chin, one suspiciously shaped like a hand. Naome made a few choice decisions in that moment. She took the time to look around the room, where kids were still playing, waiting for their parents to come get them. One picture frame was missing from where it had hung on the wall, out of reach from any wandering hands. How did it get broken?

"It's too high for her to reach, I think you mean that you struck her and she hit the wall, causing it to fall down and break." She said levelly. One thing she hated was when the civilians took their grudge against her, and pit it up on someone who was not involved. Hikaru-chan couldn't choose his mother, and Yurei had enough problems in her life without adding Naome's on top of it all.

"Please destroy Ran Yurichi's contract here, Hikaru-chan won't be coming back. I won't have my children around someone who would strike them." With that she picked up Hikaru, took Yurei gently by the hand and moved past the caretaker, sending a hint of KI at the stupid woman as a warning.

"No other Day Care will take the child of the devil. You should give up the facade and die!" She just came dangerously close to revealing an S-class secret. She's lucky that Naome had such good emotional control, otherwise she might have attacked her.

"Kaa-chan?" She looked at the sniffing boy in her arms and smiled down at him.

"Don't cry over that Hikaru-chan! You're getting to be a big boy anyway and kaa-chan has lots of free time now!" Yurei didn't say anything, and Naome hoped all the good she'd been doing hadn't been undone. Yurei was just starting to bounce back, the way most kids do.

At the apartment she let Hikaru run around the fenced in backyard. Naome sat on the back porch with Yurei in her lap, while she braided the little girl's hair. She had started by simply brushing it to get the tangles from Tsuna out, but eventually it turned into braiding.

"Gomenasai, Naome-sensei." The voice was so quiet, just like when she first arrived. Naome didn't pause in her movements, simply letting the five year old do as she wished.

"I will accept any punishment for my disobedience." Okay, that was going a bit far. Understandable, from the girl's point of view. To Naome it was a load of Bull that needed to be cleaned up.

"Yurei-chan, will you tell me the whole story of what happened?" Not that it was really a question. She could ask the poor thing to stab herself with a bone and she'd do it without hesitation.

As it turned out, Tsuna had been bullying Hikaru. Yurei had taken Naome's offhand remark about protecting Hikaru-chan and had acted accordingly by picking the one year old up and moving away, a very mature response. Tsuna had followed them though and Yurei had shoved him aside to keep him away from Hikaru.

Tsuna pulled on her hair in revenge and began screaming, which brought in the caretaker who proceeded to do just as Naome guessed. She hit the unsuspecting Yurei so hard she'd been thrown into the wall, causing a picture to fall and break.

"You did very well Yurei-chan, protecting your otouto and doing so without ever having to lift your hand for a blow." She doubted anyone else would have been so mature in the same instance.

"But I caused you trouble and was kicked out of the Day Care." Yurei looked over her shoulders at her and Naome felt her heart clench when she saw the honest confusion in her eyes.

"That was more my fault then anything, and besides, any woman who would strike a child should not be in the care of them." It wasn't Yurei's fault the majority of the civilian population had it out for her.

"I'm very proud of what you did, because you protected Hikaru-chan. I believe, that one becomes truly strong if they protect what is precious to them." She thought about Haku, who was busy getting _busy_ at the moment. He was the first person who had ever told her about the meaning of true strength.

"Do you have anything precious to you?" Naome asked playfully, finishing the braid and tying it off with a purple ribbon. Yeah, Yurei really liked purple.

Yurei didn't answer, but Naome didn't mind. She had her whole life ahead of her to decide what was and wasn't precious. If she had anything to say about it, Yurei wouldn't even need this knowledge until after becoming a genin, one loyal to Konoha.

"If Hikaru is my otouto, are you my kaa-san?" She was just tucking her in for bed when Yurei asked. Naome felt a rising feeling in her chest and she looked at the five year old girl in dark blue pajamas, and smiled. She really smiled!

"If you'll let me, I'd love to be your kaa-san." It took an hour for Yurei to cry herself to sleep, but they were tears of happiness and that was okay. It's okay to cry when you are happy.

The next morning Naome brought Hikaru and Yurei to training with her, since Haku wasn't avaliable for baby sitting duty.

"Ano, Ka-Kaa-san, I can watch Hikaru." Yurei tried to point out.

"You are very mature and responsible for your age Yurei-chan, but I'd feel better if you were with me! Besides, you are a child as well, someone to be watched, not someone to watch others." She explained just as they were entering the area.

"Enjoy your childhood while it lasts!" She advised before instructing them not to go in the water. After all, they couldn't swim. Or walk on water. They might be swept away by the current.

Jiraiya was uncharacteristically pensive, even though three beautiful babes were bathing just on the other side of the henges. He'd been doing some thinking since Naome's speech yesterday, and had put a little thought into it.

His student had crafted the seal purposely to allow her to draw on the fox's chakra, because he thought she might need it someday. He needed to train her to at least call it but if she fought him the entire way there then it would be needlessly difficult and she would push against the chakra rather than accept it.

He had suspected that fear had been her motivation for creating the Siphon tags. Fear that the Kyuubi might try to possess her. After that speech though he was forced to reassess the situation. She had nearly killed a friend the first time, nearly lost control the second, she had created the Siphon tags to make sure that didn't happen again.

Under normal circumstances, the desire to become strong in her own right would have instilled respect from him. However, since this desire went against what he was trying to accomplish, it was more bothersome than anything really. Most genin wanted short cuts to becoming strong, and didn't really understand strength until a couple years as a chunin.

It was most likely the necessity to force her own growth during her pregnancy that brought about this mature mind set. She had been faced with prejudice from every civilian, which would have led to an inability to provide for her offspring if she had failed the graduation exam.

So she had trained, working long hours while in the delicate stage of pregnancy which had an amazing result. Her grades had risen from bottom of her class to competing spot for Rookie of the Year. Most had assumed that such a life style would have detrimental affects on a developing embryo, yet Hikaru was a genius. He could talk in almost complete sentences at one year old!

After she gave that speech his initial strategy would be to force her into a near death situation where drawing on the Kyuubi's chakra would have been vital. She brought kids though, one her own son and one the last of her clan and adopted daughter. He couldn't go through with his plan to toss her off a cliff since the kids probably wouldn't like it and might be in danger on the off chance the Kyuubi's chakra came out too quickly.

Which left talking it out, something he deplored doing. He was more of a Hit-It-Until-It-Dies kind of guy. That didn't mean he couldn't talk a man out of giving away his first born, just that he hated doing all that cloak and dagger manipulative shit.

"Naome, come here." She looked away from her warm up before leaving a bunshin to keep an eye on the kids. Which made sense, they might run off and get lost otherwise.

"You were always meant to use the Kyuubi's chakra." Her brows knit together and he could tell she was irritated that he was still on about it. She had a good poker face, but he'd seen better.

"You want to be strong in your own right, that's understandable. What is not is that you purposely reject a weapon that could be truly useful to you and the village as a whole." Oh, now she looked even angrier. He'd have to test the waters a bit more to see what buttons he should push.

"A weapon, a double edged one." She seemed to agree.

"What is the use of a weapon that turns on my allies. I don't want to hurt my friends! Besides, the Kyuubi is a demon that nearly destroyed the village, I can't imagine using it's power would make me any more popular." Yesterday's events had served to remind her of how far she had yet to go before she got the hat of the Hokage. A village wouldn't let a pariah rise that far in ranks, so she had to change their opinions. Using the Kyuubi's chakra was counterproductive towards that goal.

"You don't want to hurt your friends, but if you turn away an advantage then you risk their lives when a time comes that you face an opponent you are not ready for." She blinked and a flashback of the Forest of Death came to her.

She used that chakra because she knew without it that she couldn't hope to match Orochimaru. With it she'd been able to ultimately stop the curse mark from being put on Sasuke. Without it she wouldn't have been able to move, let alone heal so quickly.

"I'm not saying use it willy nilly in every fight you go into, but an ace up the sleeve never killed anyone." Naome thought back on her last meeting with Orochimaru. He was planning an invasion on the day of the final exam, he'd be disguised as the kazekage, Gaara was a staple point in the invasion.

"...I'll use it." The bunshin was informed via dispelling to take the children farther away to a shallow place in the river, where they could splash around in the water. Hopefully they'd be far enough away that what Naome was about to do wouldn't scare them. She removed the Siphon tag and handed it over to Jiraiya, just in case.

Naome sat down in lotus position and cleared her mind. She was going to do what she'd been trying to avoid since that day she read her own ANBU file. Today she'd be face to face with the Kyuubi no Kitsune, a nine tailed fox demon that had nearly destroyed her village and had ruined her life from day one.

She opened her eyes to find herself in a forest at night. The trees only had a few leaves on them, they looked unhealthy but clung to life. The path she now stood on was worn, like a thousand people had traveled it before and a thousand more would with time. If this was her mind, what did it say about her?

The path twisted around each tree, sometimes even circling it. She couldn't tell where it would end or which way she should go, there were so many paths it was impossible to follow! She remembered that her journey here was to find the fox and then picked a path based on if she could see fire glowing beyond it. She figured fire meant the fox since it was red.

It felt like she was walking for hours and getting nowhere, and at first she couldn't figure out why. She always took the path with the fire glowing just out of sight, but she was pretty sure all she was doing was going in circles. It was hard to tell since everything looked alike. There were far too many twists and turns to keep track of.

"Wait a minute, this is _my_ mind!" She fought by tricking her opponents, whether on the battlefield or in every day life! She was a prankster at heart! Why would the path be so easy to find then?

"So I've just been following my own traps? That is just so...Ironic." She had outtrapped herself. Clearly the Kamis were laughing.

With this theory in mind, she looked carefully at every path around her. She survived by doing the most unexpected, by being ten steps ahead, by weaving long trails of lies behind her. She was a prankster, she was a trick master.

"Let's see, the path would be the most difficult one to traverse, to show my reluctance to meet with the Kyuubi." She looked to the left where the path seemed to dead end into a hedge of thorns. That was definitely the most difficult path.

"Following that same thought, I am the most unpredictable shinobi in Konoha, which makes the path the brightest looking one." Which would be the right path, where moonlight was shining down through the foilage. It looked ominious.

"But it looks haunted, and I don't like ghosts..." With that last comment she turned around and went back the way she came. She knew she made the right choice when she found a descending staircase, going deep into the Earth.

**"So my prison warden sees fit to visit the inmates." **Naome stood in the doorway uncertainly as she looked up at the giant fox locked behind a giant cage.

It wasn't as imposing or intimidating as she'd imagined. He was lounging nearest the bars and looking down at her, both figuratively and literally. He looked bored, and angry, she wondered if he hated her for being his prison.

"I need to use some of your chakra." She stated simply, kind of hoping she could just get in and out quickly without pissing herself.

**"...Pathetic whelp, you dare to ask for my chakra? Hehehe, very well.**" Red tendrils stretched from the bars of the cage and the water on the ground glowed the color of blood. Naome reached down and accepted one tendril into her body, immediatly feeling it flow through her, empowering her.

"Thanks." With that she faded, not even giving herself enough time to see the faint surprise in the fox's eyes before she vanished. He'd never been thanked before.

In the real world Naome's eyes snapped open, and they were red as blood with slitted pupils. Her whisker marks were more pronounced, darker. Her nails had grown, strengthened into claws, and her canines were sharper.

In a flash Naome nicked her tongue and made the signs before calling out the summoning. This time, it should work. Because this time, she was using a short cut. As was, unfortunately, the shinobi way.

A poof of smoke and then chakra shelled to form the shape of a positively monstrous sized toad. It was wearing a yakuza jacket and had a pipe in it's mouth. Standing on top of it now, Naome really hoped this was the boss because she wasn't sure she could do anything else today. The chakra drain was enormous!

"Hmm? Jiraiya, why did you summon me here?" The toad croaked.

"Ano, excuse me Gama-sama, but I summoned you!" Naome called down to the toad. She was standing on his head, she hoped that wasn't rude or anything.

"Hmm? You expect me to believe a little spit of a girl like you could summon me? Ha!" His whole body shook when he laughed and Naome had to quickly use chakra to stick to his skin or be thrown off. That would have been really embarrassing.

"Heh, I'm impressed you managed to hang on." He did that on purpose? She took a moment to be a little angry before she realized she could see her kids from here. They looked like tiny specs, but she doubted that they didn't see the giant toad. Could they see her from there?

"What are you lookin' at gaki?" The toad squinted in that direction and blinked before puffing on his pipe.

"A couple kids and a bunshin?" He mumbled. It was obviously a solid bunshin too, since it was holding the little boy with the red and blonde hair. What a strange coloring.

"That's my son and daughter!" Naome informed him, feeling proud of being able to say that.

Gamabunta looked at the girl child, which had white hair, and nearly swallowed his pipe. A little girl with white hair! Did Jiraiya actually succeed in perpetuating his genes?

"I know what you're thinking Gama-sama, and that couldn't be further from the truth! Yurei-chan is_ my _daughter! Get your mind out of the gutter!" Naome shouted with a reddened face. Why was she surrounded by perverts? Even Anko-nee had a more than healthy amount of sexuality!

"Heh...Gaki, my name is Gamabunta, address me as such. More importantly, what should I call you?" Naome quickly introduced herself, getting over her embarassment quickly. She supposed she should've expected something like that from someone who knew Ero-sensei, even if it was so disturbing that she really wished she knew how to erase her memories.

"Well Naome-chan, if what you say about summoning me is true, then you must pass my test." Her eyes narrowed a little and she wondered what sort of test a toad would give her. If it involved eating bugs she'd have to decline. She couldn't stoop that low!

"You used chakra to hang on when I laughed, if you can avoid falling until the Sun sets then I will accept you as a new summoner." Of course he'd have to be polite about it, after all females were a tenacious bunch and never forgot an insult. It would be safer to act politely for now, until he got to know this strange human girl that Jiraiya had chosen.

Naome was scarcely prepared when he shot into the air, the pressure slamming on her and forcing her to buckle down and just wait for it to stop. Falling was worse, in a way. She could only hold on with her chakra and hope that her stomach would return to her midsection with all her breakfast present.

The day passed in a haze of up and down where Naome repeatedly thought she was going to die. Especially when he found the river and tried to drown her. That had been scary and only narrowly avoided. After that she made sure to check where they were going to fall, because water hurt when slamming into it from a hundred meters in the air.

Naome was panting hard and aching on her back and stomach from jumping and landing by the time dusk rolled around. Now there was just five minutes until the sun set and she passed this test. After that she'd go home and rest in a hot bath before devouring half the food in her kitchen and passing out in bed. Yurei and Hikaru were already home and probably eating dinner right about now.

Gamabunta chewed the end of his pipe as he thought of the exhausted girl on his head. She had done rather well, no close calls and she didn't throw up even once. That was better than Jiraiya had done as a child. Still, he wasn't going to make this easy on her, and with that he jumped.

All his previous jumps had been the standard high jump, not really moving around much. This time he jumped forward and knew the pressurized air was probably like hitting a concrete wall for the gaki on his back. She managed to catch onto his jacket, having been surprised by his sudden change in momentum.

He completed several quick dashes in a zig zagging pattern and felt how Naome-chan could only hang on by her hands while her body was whipped around. There were only two minutes left now. If he was going to do something, now was the time to start.

He jumped hard and went higher than any times before. The village was much smaller from this point of view, it looked like a typical farm village now and was nearly blotted by the trees that sheltered it. He felt the weightless moment between flying and falling where the body doesn't know if it's the right side up or completely turned around.

For a second, he thought that she had been knocked off by a stray wind current and had fallen to her death. However upon landing his pipe felt odly lopsided, heavier than it should, but hardly noticable.

He was very surprised when a soot stained Naome popped out, coughing and gasping for air that had been burned within the pipe. He was so stunned that she'd gotten there without his noticing, that he barely registered when the Sun vanished completely over the horizon.

"I win." Naome coughed, climbing outside of the pipe. She hoped she didn't get addicted the tobacco because of this. She couldn't understand why Asuma-san smoked these! She was coughing her brains out!

"You know, my pipe has enough nicotine to give ten humans an addiction?" She sat with her legs on either side of the pipe and looked incrediously at the giant toad who was smirking at her. She didn't even know toads could smirk!

She followed her plan for going home with a couple of changes. She was forced to take a shower to get out all the soot and stray tobacco leaves in her hair, and by the time she got around to eating it was nearly midnight. She could _still_ smell the tobacco!

The next morning she felt much better and took the kids back to the training ground with her. When they were going through the market section though something in a window caught her eye. Three cartons of cigarettes could be seen just past a display of magazines.

She paused in her steps and momentarily remembered the pipe incident just the day before. She hadn't seen Jiraiya since then, and the smell of tobacco followed her even now. Maybe just a couple packs would be okay, it wasn't like smoking would hurt her anyway. Kyuubi healed any and all damage on her so he would probably heal her lungs every time she took a smoke.

She took a moment to hate herself a little for even considering it. A Hokage couldn't be so weak willed as to let a stupid giant pipe incident cause her to take up an unhealthy habit. Besides, she had an example to set for her children!

"Kaa-chan?" Yurei was more confident about calling her that now, that was a good thing.

"It's nothing, Yurei-chan." She reassured her daughter. Surprisingly enough, the previously mysteriously absent Jiraiya was back again, and waiting for her. She curiously spread out her Chakra Sense but didn't pick up any civilians nearby, so it was probably just because he didn't have anyone to peek on.

"Ero-sensei, where did you go yesterday?" She asked frostily, although the effect was probably ruined since she was still holding Hikaru-chan. She probably looked like a grumpy single mother who's husband had run off. The single mother part was right and she _did_ wonder about Shikamaru. Not that he was her husband! Just a close family friend!...Who Hikaru called tou-san.

"Congrats on passing Bunta's test gaki!" After letting Yurei-chan take Hikaru-chan downstream a bit where they could still be seen, but play in the water, Naome got to training.

Just because she managed to summon the boss didn't mean she had mastered the summoning jutsu. What if she had to fight close quarters? Or there was stealth involved? Giant toads wearing yakuza jackets aren't exactly inconspicuous.

"Try using varying amounts of chakra. Now that you've summoned the boss you should be able to summon the others." She blinked in surprise. His teaching method before had consisted of him giving her handsigns and then turning around to peep at women. That he was giving out a hint, however vague, was pretty mind blowing since he'd more or less ignored her from day one.

She obediently only used a fraction of the chakra used yesterday and cast the jutsu, wondering what sort of toad would pop up. If she got tadpoles again she was going to castrate the pervert, simply because he was the nearest she could cause bodily harm to.

With a poof an orange toad, about the size of her head, appeared. He glared up at her in what she interpreted as surprise and curiosity.

"Ano, hello. My name is Naome Uzumaki." She introduced herself, kneeling down to look him in the eye. This must be a child version, he had more fat around his cheeks and no warts that she could see.

"I'm Gamakichi, nice to meetcha!" His voice was higher, kind of squeaky. This was definitely a child but she wasn't sure how old he was. How long did a summons live?

"You're the girl who fell into pop's pipe yesterday?" Eh, pops? So this Gamakichi was Gamabunta's son?

"Hai, if I hadn't landed in the pipe I would've lost the challenge." She answered, suddenly very concious of the lingering smell. What would it take to get it out of her clothes?

"Cool! So those are your kids? I thought humans had to be older to reproduce!" He was curious more than grumpy now that he knew her a little. She wondered if she was the first human he had met, or at least the first female one.

"Hai, that's Yurei-chan and Hikaru-kun. Also, humans usually reproduce older but my case was special." She wasn't giving her life story to him. She wouldn't ever tell Hikaru-chan either. He was her son, no matter how she got him.

"Can I play with them?" She almost giggled at his eagerness. She wondered if he had any brothers or sisters back home to play with. She nodded her assent and quickly introduced the children to her new summons. She had a feeling she and Gamakichi would be good friends for a long time. He'd make a nice little playdate for Yurei-chan and Hikaru-kun!

The rest of the morning she practiced summoning. She summoned a toad that used twin katana named Gamahiro, who insisted that she call him Hiro-san, and a toad named Gamaken who kept saying he was clumsy, although she certainly didn't think so after he gave a brief demonstration of his skills. He fought amazingly!

After a lunch of bentos, she'd even packed one for Jiraiya, she began training in all the things she already knew. She summoned her bunshins for taijutsu practice while standing on top of the water, in order to simultaniously train her chakra control while she was at it. After dispelling all the bunshins she went through her daily work out, which she had been neglecting in favor of the summoning technique.

When she finished that, she brought out her Free Time scroll and unsealed a giant pile of leaves. She could feel Ero-sensei's gaze on her while she summoned ten bunshins, who each took a leaf. She was still trying to burn it using fire chakra but it was harder than it looked.

"I thought your affinity was wind." The voice came when she was concentrating deeply on making her chakra hotter, so when she jumped and lost that concentration, she burned her hands. For the record, Chakra burns hurt more than regular burns. They also take longer to heal...for normal people anyway.

"Ero-sensei!" She growled in agitation, shaking her hands to cool them down. Water didn't really help with chakra burns, although she was willing to try anything to make it stop. Why did they hurt so damn much?

"It is my primary affinity, but I started training this after cutting a waterfall with wind." Jiraiya blinked at that but didn't comment. He was watching her use the bunshins to remarkable results, she had probably used them on the waterfall as well. If she kept using bunshins to train she'd progress much faster than expected.

"Why fire?" He asked curiously. She seemed the type to use water to flow in and out of her opponent's guard based on her taijutsu style.

"Well, when I was first making my own exploding tags, I found out adding wind caused a much bigger boom. I like explosives." It was a necessary evil, and the fact it nearly burned all her hair away was just beside the point. It had grown back fast enough, and the short hair looked cute even if she couldn't get it evened out later!

"I see." He did see, he saw very well. He could just imagine what would happen when she learned collaboration techniques. She'd be a force of nature, a rain of fire to burn all of Konoha's enemies! Of course, if she used this kind of knowledge along with her pranking skills, she'd be a demolition expert.

He watched her go at it until it came time to take the kids home for dinner. She stretched out to avoid any cramps, got the kids and left after a quick good bye to Gamakichi. He watched her go and wondered what other projects she had going. She had fuinjutsu, elemental training, spy work, and apparently a newfound fondness for bring-your-kid-to-training day.

"What a weird kid." He sighed, getting up to leave. She'd be interesting to train at least, that much was certain. Maybe even, the child of destiny?

She made good progress for the rest of the month, coming so far as to finish burning her leaf. It was alot easier than cutting it, probably because she already had experience in this kind of excercise. She wasn't sure what the second part would be though. She couldn't exactly set a waterfall on fire.

As it were, after finishing that training she asked Sasuke for a couple low level fire jutsu. Using them in conjunction with her wind jutsu would devestate Neji! He grudgingly gave her the Great Fireball technique and the Hosenko jutsu, in exchange for helping him get some elemental paper so he could figure out his own affinity. His was apparently two affinities, that of lightning and fire. Lucky!

Although she really wasn't sure what might happen if he tried to combine them like she was planning on wind and fire. Flaming static cling? Was it even possible to combine those two? Maybe she did get the better end of the deal.

So this left Naome with her last night before the exams. Her house was full, with Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, Anko-nee, Kakashi-sensei, Haku, and the now pronounced pregnant Shiho, all sitting at her thankfully larger table. She had outdone herself in cooking a big feast and acting like a proper hostess and everything.

"Naome-chan you need to cook for me more often! I'd almost forgotten how good it is!" Anko-nee sighed in bliss after eating her fill. Her slowly rounding stomach a constant reminder of what was going on there. The wedding would be in just a week more, after the exams and invasion.

"It's nothing!" Naome waved it off.

Shikamaru was uncomfortable. He had grown accustomed to being in constant physical contact with Naome, like laying his head on her lap. With so many people though he couldn't do that, especially since one of those troublesome people was the troublesome and highly hormonal Anko Mitarashi, who would skin him alive if he sat closer than three feet to Naome.

Naome had also been acting kind of weird ever since the dango shop. She had asked about Temari from Suna and then gotten all quiet around him. It was really troublesome, but he wasm't sure how to fix it. He should probably apologize, he'd do it tonight before he left. He had to or he wouldn't be able to concentrate on his fight tomorrow.

The party winded down, Haku left to his new home where he and his three brides lived, Kakashi and Anko went to Kakashi's apartment, Chouji and Ino went home, and it was just him and Naome. Along with the kids too, troublesome.

"You should go home and get some rest Shika, tomorrow is the last stage of the exam!" Naome advised him gingerly. They had only shared a few tense remarks the entire evening. It was so troublesome!

"I want to talk to you, about what happened after the dango shop." She fiddled with her lighter with one hand and shot a quick glance at the kids playing in the living room, just beyond the door.

"It's troublesome but, I guess I said something to offend you. So I'll say sorry." He could confess now, if he wanted. A better oppurtunity wouldn't show itself until after the exams, and if he waited then something might happen. Maybe Naome would end up choosing someone else, troublesome girl that she is.

He could confess now, get it all off his chest. Tell her how he'd fallen in love when she held his hand over her stomach and he felt Hikaru's kick. How he'd realized he was in neck deep when he looked down at Hikaru in his cradle. How he had watched Naome get stronger, faster, and pushed him too train as well. He now knew three of his clan's techniques, rather than the one he'd planned on.

He could list her favorite things from one to ten, tell her that he loved her style and personality. How he'd treasured that first date, and then he'd ask for another date. A real one, where he could take her out for dinner, and he wouldn't even complain. He wanted to tell her that he'd been distracted by her clear, blue eyes and tripped, falling deeper than he'd ever meant to.

He'd tell her that she was his ideal girl, and he'd do anything if she'd let him be her ideal guy. He would ask to be Hikaru's father, and even Yurei's too now. He'd tell her how he was so proud of Hikaru's intelligence, that he was happy whenever Yurei laughed, loud and without holding back, just like Naome.

"Shikamaru, can I call you Shika-kun?" Naome dipped her head a little in embarassment, fully aware of the blush she was sporting. It probably looked so silly, blushing and asking shyly, totally unlike her usual self. He'd probably never really like a troublesome girl like her.

"If I can call you Naome-chan." He kind of wanted to choke on his words, but he deemed that too troublesome. He wasn't going to screw this up again! This time he'd do it! This time he'd tell her!

Naome opened her mouth to reply, a bright smile on her face, when a knock sounded on the door. She jumped a mile and quickly checked to make sure all curtains were closed, because no one should be arriving at her house this late.

"Kaa-chan! Door!" Came her son's voice and she felt a fear grip her. She had a bad feeling, and she'd have to play this carefully. They probably already knew Shikamaru was here too!

"Shika-kun, trust me on this and go to my room! Stay there with Hikaru and Yurei until I call. I don't have time to explain!" He was stunned for a moment but when she moved so did he. He gathered the children and only spared one over the shoulder glance to see Naome reaching for the door knob. What was going on?

Naome took a deep breath and opened the door a crack, to see Kabuto Yakushi. For a second she blinked stupidly, already in her disguise as a silly genin girl in way over her head. She had to play this right, because she hadn't been expecting this but she really should have.

"Kabuto-san, what a surprise. I'm afraid who you are here to see isn't here." She opened the door a little more but carefully kept her body vitals behind it. He might try to attack her and she wasn't confident she could beat him right now.

"Actually I am here to speak with you. May I come in?" He asked politely, unlike his true persona whenever he was around Nina. Good, he underestimated her.

"I was having my boyfriend over, but I guess you can." She grumbled a little, letting her shoulders slump in dejection.

"I'll make this brief." He strode through the door in a self satisfied sort of way, as though she should be honored to have his presence in her house. Personally Naome was already mentally groaning about having to disinfect everything he touched. Ew, he just ran his hand over her favorite portrait of Hikaru!

"You know who I am don't you?" She nodded her acknowledgement and led him to the kitchen, where she poured tea. Anything to get him from her personal memorobilia.

"So, the fuck do you want?" She asked impudently. She had acted like the hot shot genin the last time she'd seen him at the first exam, so she should build on that.

"Such crude language." Kabuto chuckled. Naome growled and set her feet on the table, fully aware that she stepped in something less than pleasant earlier. She was going to reinforce his opinion of a girl born way behind the red line.

"Cut to the chase, cause Nina-baba isn't here, she said she was meeting some special guy in Nami." She grunted, putting her feet on the table, out of sight her right hand fingered a few shuriken. Could she get him by surprise if it came down to it?

"We've been interested in the child of jinchuriki for a while now, but you are the only known to have one. We'd like to study Hikaru for a few days." She furrowed her brows at the word study and purposely fiddled with a kunai in plain view. If he thought he was getting her son he had another thing coming!

"I've heard of the weird shit Orochimaru does to test subjects, and I'm not too excited to let Hikaru die at only a year old." Concentrate, keep your emotions under control, but visible. He had to underestime her! If not, then she might lose everything! She did not need this right before the final exams!

"I assure you that Hikaru would be largely unchanged, we just want to see if having the Kyuubi affected him in utero. It'll only be a few days, but we need you to decide immediatly." She didn't even get time to report this? To think it over? Shit, this was a worst case scenario!

She had to calm down, keep him talking. Figure out a battle strategy. What did she have to work with? Shikamaru was upstairs with the kids, there was a bit of wall that could block Kabuto's view to her bedroom door if she kept him at the foot of the stairs. The light in the hall would cast his shadow upwards, plenty close enough for Shikamaru.

"Tonight? You'd take him tonight?" She kept her face carefully in the unrestrained fright while she deftly tossed the kunai end over end, catching it by the hilt. All in a day's work for your average shinobi.

"You misunderstand. We _will_ take him tonight, however we thought we should let you know what's going on and give you the oppurtunity to follow at a later date, a time when you can vanish from this pot hole and come to Otogakure." He was suggesting she betray her home, this time she didn't have to fake the surprise that came from that announcement. She knew they'd offer it to Nina, sooner or later, but never thought _Naome_ would get an invitation.

To even suggest such a thing, they had to be pretty confident of her distaste of the village. Which meant they had bad information, or maybe really outdated information. They could be assuming based on what they'd heard of her childhood, which seemed likely. Did they know who her parents were? That her mother was also a jinchuriki?

A child of a jinchuriki, that was kind of ironic, since that's what they wanted to study in the first place.

"I would become an Oto nin?" She pretending to try to hide enthusiasm. It was surprisingly difficult to pretend to have bad acting skills. She'd have to practice failing at pretending...That was just too lame to think about.

"Of course, and now that is squared away and decided, bring me Hikaru-kun. I only have a small window to escape and return, security has been raised because of the dignitaries attending the chunin exams." She nodded and told him to wait, since her 'boyfriend' was still waiting on her. He followed her as far as the stairs and told her to get a few things to make Hikaru comfortable in Oto until she arrived.

She opened her door and she was sure he could see how pale her face was, if not outwardly then inwardly. He looked serious, and had both the children close to him. One hand fiddled with a kunai with a weird ball attached to it. The kanji for Light could be seen. A flash bang?

"Shika-kun, code blue." She murmured in his ear when she leaned over him to pick up Hikaru. His eyes widened at the implication but he nodded, his hands didn't shake and his eyes didn't waver.

Code blue, a code invented during their academy days when hiding her pregnancy was vital for all involved. It basically said that he had to run interference by using his shadow possession, causing a distraction. It was just a tactic they made in case anyone almost walked in on her unhenged, but now she was using it for a completely different purpose.

She went to Hikaru's room and got a small bag of toys and clothes before heading to the stairs. Shikamaru was standing out of sight, with his hands at the ready to catch him at her signal. The signal went along with the code, but rather than a color, it was a specific phrase.

"Alright Kabuto-san, just make sure he doesn't die. Or _Mama Bear_ will come out and kill you." The code phrase was Mama Bear, and she had distracted Kabuto by simultaniously handing over a confused Hikaru so he wouldn't notice the shadow latching onto his own.

Naome noticed though, and as soon as she said 'kill' she was _moving._ She tossed Hikaru so he would land on the couch, and out of sight so he wouldn't have to watch. She had hidden a shuriken in the palm of her hand, and she used it to slice a vein in his neck before he could react.

With his back to the wall and frozen in place, along with a heavily bleeding wound, things looked grim. The exact reason Naome had chosen to use Shikamaru for this was because Kabuto was stronger than she was, more trained. If she had come at him from the start he would have sensed her KI.

Shikamaru couldn't use KI though, and he had never killed before. Kabuto wouldn't be as tuned in to him, and Naome made sure that he didn't have an oppurtunity to move to defend himself.

He was fighting the shadow possession now, and she knew from experience that Shika could only hold it for so long like that. So right after cutting his vein and the wound began to magically close, she slapped a seal on him. It was a knock out tag, and his eyes immediatly rolled into the back of his head.

"It's okay Shika-kun!" She called, amazed her voice didn't shake at all. Was she used to this? The sudden start and end of a fight?

"A Konoha nin? What's going on here?" He hadn't known who they were attacking, hadn't been able to hear anything. Now he was looking at her with something akin to horror and for the first time she wondered if it wasn't deserved. For the first time she doubted him, and it scared her that she was even capable of it.

"He's a spy, I have to report to Hokage-sama, but I can't leave you guys here alone because he might have friends. Get Yurei-chan, we're leaving for the Hokage tower." He seemed to regain his senses and he shakily walked away, and she could clearly see the tremble in his legs. Would he hate her now? Fear her forever? Had she lost her first friend?

When he was out of sight again she looked down at Kabuto, who would be unconcious for ten minutes. His wound still sluggishly poured but it had already started healing, he wouldn't die any time soon. They would have the oppurtunity to interrogate him at T&I. That thought was oddly satisfying.

Would she meet Ibiki-san again? She never got the chance to further her knowledge of the workings of the human mind. She had really neglected that after her initial success with lying. Hmm, something to look at after the exams maybe.

She added another seal that drained chakra, and quickly comforted the crying Hikaru. She summoned two bunshins who would carry Kabuto. After a second, she sent another two bunshins disguised as Kabuto and Hikaru, in case anyone was waiting outside.

When nothing happened, her bunshins were meant to disperse. That they did not worried her beyond measure, but she waited five minutes. Long enough for Shikamaru and Yurei to come downstairs and eye her questioningly while she kept them quiet. She had to be sure, or they would die.

She sent another bunshin outside, this time as herself, and was relieved when it dispersed after finding evidence that others had been there but left. They had probably taken the Kabuto and Hikaru bunshins with them, mistaking them for the real thing.

They arrived at the tower and she had to argue with the receptionist for two minutes before getting fed up and telling the ANBU in the corner that if she didn't get to see the Hokage then the spy would wake up. That got a few things done, not all of them necessarily good.

First four ANBU surrounded her group and she froze momentarily in panic. The fifth ANBU went to the Hokage's living quarters to get them and other than a futile staring contest with one ANBU in a bird mask, nothing too exciting happened.

Kabuto began to stir just as the Hokage had them brought into his office, but he was so bound that he couldn't do anything, let alone use jutsu. His fingers were bound, his chakra temporarily sealed, and in the presence of the Old Testament style Kami no Shinobi. He was, in every definition of the phrase, royally screwed.

"Sorry Hokage-sama, but the shit hit the fan and it will only get worse." She professionally explained that she and Shikamaru had been at home when Kabuto had appeared, demanding she relinquish Hikaru in exchange for a shiny new Hitaite in Oto. She then described the 'fight' and the two bunshins she had sent to scout outside, who still had not dispelled.

With that, the two children were taken to an ajoining room by another bunshin so that the shinobi could talk. After everything that had happened in the span of ten minutes, Naome had a headache the size of the monument. She needed to unwind or she was going to snap, and at this rate it would be sooner than she hoped.

Other genin dealt with D-ranks, not fricking S-rank missing nin with a fondness for little boys!

Shikamaru was filled in on everything Naome had been involved in, about Orochimaru and his spies. He was then told about the invasion taking place tomorrow, where Orochimaru would be disguised as the kazekage. When everything became clear, he finally understood why Naome had become more distant right before the second exam. She had known what would happen!

"Naome, do you think you can accurately imitate Yakushi-san here?" Naome blinked at the sudden question from her leader before tentatively stating that she probably could. Her bunshins hadn't been dispelled yet, so they had probably fooled whoever the other nin were.

He nodded in satisfaction before asking how long those bunshins would last, to which she answered that they'd last two weeks at the most if they weren't dispelled before then. After that though they would fade out of existence, no bunshin lasted longer than that.

"In that case, I'm afraid all we can do is wait. Shikamaru-kun, do not speak of this to anyone. You should go home now, your parents are most likely worried!" Shikamaru took the dismissal with good humor and left almost too quickly. Naome was just glad that he knew what was going on now. She hated lying to him.

"Naome, some ANBU will be accompanying you and the children home and guarding you until the exams. During the exams Hikaru-kun and Yurei-chan will be provided the necessary protection." That was really the best she could hope for, in these circumstances.

"You summoned me Hokage-sama?" Enter Ibiki Morino, head of T&I and the proctor of the second exam stage, also the man who introduced a naive Naome to interrogation. She owed this man alot for who she had become.

"Get everything you can out of him." Kabuto, until then, had sat quietly and stewed. Naome almost found it funny how unguarded he was when it was revealed that _she_ was actually Nina and Ran! He'd been positively stupified to realize they'd been duped by a girl not yet twelve, the youngest of her graduating class.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." The prisoner seemed to panic now and he thrashed in the arms of the two bunshins, one of which dispelled from the force of a well timed headbutt. Naome sprang right away, hitting a pressure point on the back of the neck to knock him out, he wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon.

With that, she picked up her kids and new bodyguards and went home. It was time for bed, they were both already asleep and she was mentally exhausted, though she'd honestly hardly done anything too extrenous.

She decided that full scale fights were much better than these quick ambushes she'd been doing lately. She much preferred not being able to plan ahead, only in the here and now, responding to what was going on. Slap stick strategies without much room for worry or doubt, that is what she loved.

She had trouble sleeping that night, tossing and turning. Everytime she dozed off she imagined that someone had gotten past the guards. Someone had taken her son away from her! Each time she awoke in a panic and ran straight for his bedroom, nearly slamming the door open. Each time she saw him sleeping peacefully in his crib, clutching a stuffed frog she'd bought the other day.

Eventually she really did sleep, but by then it felt like only a second before the alarm went off, bringing her out of that comforting blackness and into the new day. She needed a vacation.

Wait, did shinobi even get vacations? Surely they had days off or something!

She arrived at the stadium with time to spare, and remembered when she had painted the entire inside in a beautiful mural. Those were good, carefree times. She hadn't pulled a prank since before the chunin exams! She wondered if her skills had gotten rusty.

Inside the crowds were a bustle of activity and excitement, the tension could be cut by a kunai. She wished that Yurei-chan and Hikaru-chan could watch from the stands but they were in a secure location until the invasion ended. At least she knew they were safe.

She could tell them all about how much ass she kicked later today, when everything was said and done. All she had to do until then was make sure a certain one-tailed jinchuriki couldn't join the fight, and make sure that she had front row seats to Hokage-jiji beating the crap out of Orochimaru.

She was a little worried that Sasuke wasn't there yet. He had the second match, right after her's, which she was determinned be a quick one. She needed time to locate her two bunshin, which had not dispelled yet. So her bunshins had fooled Orochimaru's men.

She thanked whatever diety had seen fit to alter her henge, allowing it to be solid and nearly impossible to detect. It was a blessing and she thanked the powers that be for their generous gift. Maybe they gave it to her to balance out the amount of bad karma scooped on her by the Kyuubi attack!

"Hey Shika, how'd you sleep?" She greeted her friend. Last night he sounded like there was something important he wanted to say, but with everything that had happened afterwards it had completely slipped her mind.

"Naome-chan, where's your troublesome teammate?" Naome shrugged in answer and turned to look at their proctor. What happened to the coughing guy? Wasn't he supposed to proctor these matches? Maybe his sickness got worse and he had to be hospitalized.

"The matches have been changed a little, this is the new brackette. Memorize your spot." He ordered them, holding out a piece of paper. She was still the first match, and at first she couldn't see a difference. Until she remembered Shikamaru was meant to fight two matches, but apparently Dosu had forfeited.

"We'll begin now, everyone except Neji Hyuuga and Naome Uzumaki please go to the competitor's box." Shikamaru gave her shoulder an encouraging squeeze and she tried to hold on to the already fading warmth of his hand. She was going to keep her promise to Hinata today, to defeat Neji to avenge her honor! She'd teach him a lesson or two!

They stood facing eachother, the proctor guy between them and a little off to the side, ready to jump back. He stated the rules, basically that he could stop it whenever he wanted, and his arm raised to the air. Naome tensed herself and fell to a high crouch, ready to leap either back or forth depending on what Neji decided to do first.

She usually liked having time to set traps and such before a fight, but that wasn't an option now. The proctor's arm fell in slow motion as adrenaline flooded her body, the now familiar fight or flight instinct rearing it's head. So much hinged on today, but she couldn't worry about her bunshins or the invasion right now. At the moment, all that existed was the stadium and her opponent.

Neji darted forward, his byakugan blazing as he quickly targeted her tenkutsu. He would end this fight soundly and show her that nobody could fight their fate!

He was taken by surprise when she ducked just before the moment of impact, causing him to trip over her fully crouched body. He righted himself and hurried to regain the advantage. If he gave her enough time she would get those smoke bombs from the preliminary battles. While they would not affect him as badly as Kiba, he'd prefer not to find out what else she had up her sleeves.

Naome manuevered in out of his strikes, trying to find a weak point but not getting lucky so far. The thought of luck wedged itself into her mind and she carefully held back a smirk. So he believed in fate, huh? Well, let's show him what a loser could do!

The byakugan gives the user the ability to see chakra, so she decided to give him something to look at. As soon as she had a little breathing room she molded her chakra to a high level, producing an almost glowing shell around her. Sure enough, this amount of output caused him to stumble back and shield his eyes, his byakugan shutting off to prevent permanant damage from the glare, like staring at the Sun.

With his eyes closed she summoned fived bunshins and set them up to a perimeter around him, each bunshin taking out a few kunai and tossing it at once. At the last second Neji's own chakra began to glow, and she saw him twisting at such a high speed that a shield was formed from the chakra output.

One of the kunai got in the sphere, but it only grazed him. That was one impressive defense, but she'd get through it one way or another. Even so, she shot a glance up at the Hokage's box where she could see the Kazekage, Orochimaru in disguise.

Her moment of distraction proved fatal as her bunshins were effortlessly dispatched, before Neji sped to her with one jyuuken strike away from seriously hurting her. She allowed a quick glower for losing focus before she made her getaway.

Going for a frontal assault was suicide. He could cut off her chakra with just a few finger pokes! She would have to take him out by using long distance attacks, starting with the Kaze no Yaiba, which Neji could still see because of the chakra. This negated the best part of that jutsu's ability, it's invisibility.

That didn't stop her though, she just started the signs for a fireball and then as soon as that was heading for him, she added Great Breakthrough. The effect was better than she had ever imagined. A great whirlwind of fire roared and she momentarily wondered if Neji would be killed. She hadn't meant to use such lethal force!

Luckily when the fire cleared, there Neji stood. He had used the Kaiten to hold the fire back, and wasn't even singed. He was breathing heavily though, she didn't have to be a genius to know that fire ate air, so he was probably a little lightheaded, the perfect oppurtunity.

By the time this had registered she had already launched forward over the scorched ground, and landed a square hit to his jaw. Naome slipped on a little ash at the last second though, so what should have shattered his jaw only knocked him way off balance and through the air a few meters. Oh well, it got the point across.

"That was impressive, but your fate was sealed the moment I was chosen as your opponent." He said challengingly. She was inclined to meet that challenge.

"You sound like a broken record. Look, I'm going to make it plain!" She lost her temper, or at least appeared to. Really she was getting ready for the best moment. It was all about the timing.

"The shinobi life isn't about fate! It's about a wheck of a lot a luck and good timing! We live and die based on our skill! To give up and cry 'fate' is a disgrace to all the men and women who have travelled this road before you, and all those who will travel it in the future!" She burst forward, spamming bunshins who flanked her left and right. Neji used Kaiten to throw off the first few but the rest hung back, before they all began to retreat by an unheard signal.

The tags that had been dropped at the edge of the kaiten were siphon tags. Well, the modified version anyway. The original version would not absorb human chakra, this version did. So the kaiten quickly became a buffet.

Naome smirked when the tags started to glow, and when Neji realized what was happening it was too late. Another difference between the original and Hybrid tag was that these only held a certain amount of chakra before their second function activated. This function was to use the chakra to create the brightest chakra flare seen in the elemental nations!

Yeah, visiting Hinata every other day with a bunshin really paid off. If the Byakugan could see chakra, why not give it something to look at?

Neji screamed in agony as his fully active byakugan was blinded to the point where all he could see was white. His hands clutched his eyes and he couldn't do anything when he felt blows landing on his body. In fact he would welcome unconciousness at this point, because the pain was like nothing he'd ever encountered before.

Surprisingly enough he found himself bound and trussed , but still very much awake. He could hear Naome's breathing close by, she was just a few feet away and he could do nothing. Was it his fate to lose in such a pitiful manner?

"Hinata told me about what happened when you were children." Rather than finishing him off, she chose to talk. What did he care what that failure said, even if it was about him?

"If you don't like the way of the Hyuuga, then I guess I'll have to change it, when I become Hokage." And the sheer confidence in that statement made him open his sensetive eyes. Naome's shoulder length hair was framed by the Sun from his angle, and she looked like an angel. No, not an angel, from this angle, she looked more like a martyr.

In that moment, with his vision still blurry and a ringing defeat on his hands, he believed her.

**I kept procrastinating and look where it got me! Bad author, bad!**

LC; *Sigh*...I'm sorry everybody, I didn't mean to take so long.

Naruto; She held off doing it for a month and then when she started four days ago it just flowed right on out of her and onto the keyboard.

LC; Please forgive me! I'm so sorry for taking so long!


	8. Starting to Fall

LC; I hate doing these now. They just annoy me for some reason.

Naruto; It's because you've run out of things to talk about.

Sasuke; So now you are bored. Does that mean we can leave?

LC; *Sigh*...I guess.

Sasuke; Wait...Really?

Naruto; Just like that? We can really go?

LC; I can't keep doing this, it's so stale. I just want to start the chapter.

Disclaimer; In Soviet Russia, Naruto own YOU! I am basically Naruto's fanfic slave.

Chapter 8; Three Bags Full.

"Winner, Naome Uzumaki." An uproar started in crowd, but rather than the half expected denials of her victory, these were cheers. Naome blinked owlishly up at the people in the stadium and wondered why her throat felt so tight now.

So this it how it felt, to be treated like she was someone worth watching. Everyone's eyes on her, it felt amazing to the attention starved orphan.

She smiled and waved at the crowd, laughing loud and without restraint for the first time in a while. Next was Sasuke's fight, but he wasn't there. She doubted he'd forfeit by default though. He would be here, he'd better be here. If he didn't get here in time she'd pummel him!

She went to the competitor's box and took a place next to Shikamaru. He smiled at her in his usual, this is troublesome, manner. She smiled back and took out a kunai to fiddle with, leaning easily against the railing and looking down in a mixture of anticipation and worry. Waiting for Sasuke to make his entrance, hoping he'd get there in time.

"Where is that teme." She muttered, keeping the kunai balanced on one finger and an annoyed expression on her face. She blinked when another chunin appeared next to the proctor guy and seemed to whisper something in his ear. Would he be disqualified?

"One of the competitor's has yet to arrive so we will be postponing this match. Would Temari and Shikamaru Nara please come down?" She was half glad he wouldn't be forced to forfeit, half annoyed at the special treatment. Why did he get everything handed to him on a silver platter when all he had going for him was a long dead clan? So what if he was the last Uchiha? Why did he get special treatment?

"Good luck Shika-kun!" She giggled at his depressed exprssion. He didn't like fighting girls. She used to think he was just sexist but he seemed to hate fighting guys just as much, probably because he just disliked moving around too much.

"Maybe I should just forfeit?" He muttered aloud to himself. Naome's eyes gleamed with mischef and before Shikamaru had a chance to protest, he was pushed over the railing and down to the arena below.

"It'll just be more troublesome to take the exams again, right Shika-kun?" She called down to him, trying to respectfully hold back her laugh. Temari was waiting already for her opponent and Naome kind of hoped Shika would beat her quickly.

Being jealous was just silly, after all it wasn't like she and Shikamaru were dating! At least not officially, even if she kind of wished they could. He didn't like her that way anyway, they were just good friends. He was the only one who knew the full story though, and she wouldn't mind dating him.

Still, if he liked that Temari girl they couldn't date at all! They were from completely different worlds! Two villages only held together by a shaky alliance! One of them would have to move from their home village if they did get together, not that they would. Shika-kun totally deserved someone way better than her!

Naome didn't notice she was grinding her teeth until she accidentally bit her tongue . To be frank, blood tastes nasty. She spit it out and contemplated leaving to get a drink of water to wash away the aftertaste. She didn't though, because a gust of wind told her the fight had begun.

She often thought that he acted like an old man. He played old man games like Shogi, and Go, and he talked in a drawn out drawl like it was troublesome to move his lips to shape the words. He even hunched over all the time like a tired old man. This fight was how she imagined an older shinobi might fight, like maybe Hokage-jiji later today when the invasion was sprung.

He could move fast when he wanted, after all he avoided Temari's first blow without any trouble. He was strong as well, he stabbed two kunai into the wall and then stood on top of them. That meant they were far enough into the wall that his weight didn't unbalance them and make them fall. It was a very subtle message and she wholeheartedly approved.

He had just shown Temari that he was stronger and faster than his appearances proclaimed. Normally having someone underestimate you was a good thing, in some instances though, bluffs worked even better. Bluffs like Shikamaru's demonstration of strength and speed, even though he had more than likely supplimented with chakra.

His next move was to take cover behind some trees, in the shadows of the stadium. That would increase his range too, but with all the free space between him and Temari she would see his shadow coming from a mile away.

'What are you planning, Shika-kun?' She thought. Temari had the advantage, she could fight long range and she was a strategist, meaning she might see through any tricks Shika-kun played.

There was a rising KI turned on her, Naome had been ignoring it since he couldn't do anything at the moment and she probably wouldn't even fight him, but it was getting increasingly annoying. And less controlled. Less controlled KI could be sensed by everyone around them too, but the concentrated KI was only directed at her, so only she could feel it.

Gaara looked impatient. His fight had been postponed and the person he really wanted to face was only a few feet away from him. She resisted the urge to look at him, because she knew that would excite him and she really didn't want to start a fight here and now.

Naome decided she hated watching people fight. The fight itself was cool, but it would be so much better if she could participate. Just watching and waiting for them to make their moves was maddening, and frankly it was very boring.

Shikamaru was showing off. Not in the typical chunin exam spirit, but in the there's-a-cute-girl-I-like-watching-me spirit. He could almost feel Naome's eyes following him when he moved. He knew her well enough to know she wouldn't think less of him if he lost, but he also knew winning would earn some bonus points. It might also give him a little confidence to finally confess to her. How troublesome was confessing supposed to be? He saw Ino do it to Sasuke every day back at the academy!

So he showed off a bit in the hopes that Naome would be impressed. Was that such a bad thing? Sure, it was troublesome, incredibly so, but alot of things were troublesome. Besides, her being impressed with him wasn't troublesome, even if the method used to get to that point was.

In the end, he trapped her using some explosive tags that he had hidden around the hilts of three kunai. She made to blast them away, not noticing the pieces of paper attached, and the resulting boom was deafening. He was declared the winner by knock out, and he figured he had made a good enough showing, he had used several advanced tactics and won easily enough while conserving chakra.

Conserving chakra, which was a big point today. He knew what was going to happen, or at least suspected it. The chunin exams was the best oppurtunity for an invasion, what with the lax security and larger number of tourists in the village. He just hoped they'd get out of this without losing anything.

"Shika-kun!" He was just heading for the stairs when he was _glomped_ by a flying Naome. Caught by surprise, he was swept off his feet and landed hard on the ground, but it really wasn't all that troublesome.

"That was so cool! The explosives at the end was so unexpected! You looked amazing with the fire ball behind you!" She was excited, and had no qualms about showing it. The real Naome Uzumaki, without anything in the way or holding anything back. He was starting to miss her.

"Troublesome Naome-chan, do you realize the entire audience is watching?" Naome blinked and looked down at their position, then up at the stands, a blush spreading along her cheeks. He would've chuckled if he hadnt been slightly afraid of her retaliation.

"Let 'em!" It was his turn to blink like a deer caught in a flashlight with a blush over his cheeks. He was proud to say that he did not in fact find it too troublesome when she bent over a little and placed a peck on his cheek. No, this wasn't troublesome at all.

"Alright love birds, if you don't mind we have to start the next match." Curse exam proctors with rotten senses of timing.

Naome giggled and then pulled him to his feet. She sombered a little when she remembered Sasuke still wasn't at the arena, but she couldn't really do anything about it. She'd just have to reserve enough strength to smack him upside the head later.

Kankuro forfeited his match without even trying. That didn't make any sense though. Why bother coming at all if you planned to forfeit right away? Naome frowned up at the make up wearing boy and her eyes were drawn to the thing on his back, wrapped in bandages. What was that thing anyway?

"We will wait ten minutes for Sasuke Uchiha to appear. If he has not arrived by that point in time he will be disqualified." Naome felt Shika squeaze her hand in reassurance and she smiled in thanks. Sasuke was the last of a prestigious clan. An invasion was planned for later today. Orochimaru was interested in him. Could he have been kidnapped? What about Kakashi-sensei, wasn't he watching him?

"I'm going to kill him." Naome decided at the end of seven minutes. Sasuke had less than three minutes to get there or she would hunt him down and beat him within an inch of his life for making her worry. She didn't need any more stress than she was already dealing with. Hokage-jiji better have her promotion already signed away for after everything she's done for this village!

Naome burst into an unseen sweat, her features carefully schooled, as only thirty seconds remained. Sasuke fucking Uchiha she was going to kill him! There was no excuse for him to emulate their sensei now of all times! If he showed up with his nose in an orange book she would personally perform his final rites!

As it stood, maybe the stress of the day had finally gotten to her. She had faced an S-rank opponent, dealt with lying to the ones closest to her, had to adjust to having a second child thrust into her life, and had to prepare for an invasion whilst knowing the afore mentioned S-rank opponent was interested in taking her son and turning him into a glorified science experiment! So when Sasuke appeared with their sensei in a dramatic swirl of leaves that probably left the fangirls deafening everyone in the stands, she was a little annoyed.

"You. Are. Late!" She resisted the urge to strangle the two men in front of her. She could feel Shikamaru cowering behind her and at the moment she didn't care. She was angry, even though her outward appearance didn't indicate it, the KI she was directing at the sharingan wielding shinobi was more than enough to clear her point.

"Maa, well he hasn't been disqualified yet so he's technically not late." Kakashi reasoned with his suicidal logic. He clearly wished to die a most painful death.

"Sensei, you had no reason to be late. I saw you last night." She growled. She'd deal with him later.

Shika and herself were left to begin the climb up the stairs to the competitor's box. Naome didn't mind, in fact if calmed her down, a little alone time with Shika should let her explain that impromptu kiss earlier.

"Ano, Shika-kun, about earlier-!" How could she have forgotten? She'd been so preoccupied wondering where her teammate was that she forgot what was waiting for him here. His opponent, a jinchuriki, an insane one at that. And he was standing on the other side of the hall, facing two foreign shinobi. They probably served daimyos in the audience.

Shikamaru unconciously moved in front of Naome as sand swarmed through the hall, dragging the two unfortunate saps in, and then crushing them into a fine paste. Blood splattered the walls, the floor, the remains of tissue littered everything. Gaara watched this all with his same apathetic look, but his eyes _gleamed with insanity._

He wasn't afraid. He was stunned when he figured that one out. There was simply a dangerous guy who looked at Naome like she was a choice steak and he reacted by stepping in front of her. He _willed_ his eyes to stay on the jinchuriki, to not turn away. _If you hurt this girl I will _kill_ you._

Gaara looked him in the eyes and Shikamaru willed any feelings of fear to vanish. This was who Naome was going to fight and she wouldn't be fighting alone. Even if he couldn't match up to a jinchuriki, she would know he was waiting for her. He would wait for her, and until she was ready and had finished protecting their home and children, he'd tell her he loved her.

Naome on the other hand, was _very_ afraid. How could someone kill so easily, even seem to enjoy it? How could a child end up like that? Was it because of the person, the thing within him, or the people around him? She had a bad feeling she knew, after all, things could've been so different.

There was a time when she was little, when the citizens constantly ignoring her would get to her. She would pause in the middle of the street and try to make eye contact with someone, anyone, but they would look right through her. As though she weren't there at all. She hated that.

She wore bright colors, orange got the best reaction. It wasn't enough though, so she pulled a prank. That worked, but only for a little while. So she pulled more, until she was pulling them constantly, a new target everyday. It became an addiction no different than any other coping mechanism used by shinobi.

She was silent as they climbed back to the box. Shika followed her to a quiet corner, where they could watch the match but would send a clear message not to disturb them. Would Sasuke be okay? Or would he have a close call like Lee? Naome didn't even want to consider the final option.

Naome felt Shika's hand in her's and she told herself sternly to calm down. She had to be patient. She had to be ready and watch out for whatever would signal the start of an invasion. She wondered, what had happened to her two bunshins? The ones disguised as Kabuto and Hikaru-chan?

_Kabuto Bunshin POV!_

He was wearing an ANBU cloak and mask, standing behind a bunch of seats that were filled with civilians. The only shinobi that he could see were Kiba and Hinata, not that he could let on that he knew them.

After leaving Naome's house four shinobi had jumped down and 'escorted' him back to the temporary base they were using. There, the Hikaru bunshin had been taken to another room. He assumed that they hadn't discovered the ruse, since Hikaru had not dispelled.

As for himself, he had been left to wander around the experiments. A bunch of gruesome looking things, each one more than enough to churn his stomach. He tampered with a few of them, so it wouldn't look suspicious and so the inhabitants could rest in peace. More than once he cursed the real Kabuto and Orochimaru, for their callous treatment of human lives.

He had been shaken by this experience but he couldn't let himself fall apart now. The best thing to do would be to get as much information as possible and use it to sabotauge Orochimaru's plans. So he sought out the four shinobi that had brought him here.

"Ah, well Sound four, let's review your parts in the plan. Just to make sure you remember everything." He donned his best patronizing tone. It was hard to imagine what Kabuto would do in each situation, she didn't know him that well, but he could give his best guess.

"Don't act so fucking cocky bastard!" The red haired woman, named Tayuya, shouted. Copious amounts of bad language, shocking red hair, and her weapon was genjutsu based on her flute. She didn't seem to carry any other weapons, but he bet she had a curse mark or something.

"A lady shouldn't use such language, Tayuya." The fat one, Jirobo drawled in what faintly sounded like a southern country accent. Kabuto wasn't sure about his skills, but he caught a glimpse of the curse mark on the way to this base.

"Both of you shut up!" Kidomaru was the stuff of weirdness. He had six arms and his corner was filled with some golden webs that were clearly strong enough to hold his weight. They looked pretty solid.

"Can we just answer Kabuto's question? Preferably before we get turned into experiments?" Sakon had two heads, and from what he could see the other head was named Ukon. They shared a body. Were they saimese twins?

"Fine, what the fuck ever." Tayuya sighed, leaving her one sided shouting match with Jirobo.

The sound four were meant to create a barrier around the Sandaime and Orochimaru-sama, (Kabuto felt sick referring to Orochimaru as sama) so that no one could interfere with the fight. That was it. Seemed like a waste of strong shinobi in Kabuto's eyes but at least he could do something about that before it happened.

He found a map in 'his' desk of the base and found the kitchen on it, which got him to thinking. What if, say, the sound four were unable to perform their duties because of some drugs in their dinner?

He searched the chemical section for something like that and struck gold. It seemed Kabuto liked to label everything clearly and concisely, there were even tags that listed whether or not it could be detected by shinobi!

There was one called the Chakra Disruption drug. According to the little information tab attached, it would only become noticable when the victim tried to use chakra. For say, a sealing barrier technique? Then the chakra would fluctuate wildly, making their jutsu unstable. Kabuto didn't trust himself enough to try using anything else, and this sounded promising.

It was actually a lot easier than he thought it would be to sneak it into their dishes. It was admittedly clumsy, and given a little more time he might have thought of something a bit more elegant. As it were all he had to do was henge into a new member of the staff and he was given the 'honor' of delivering the sound four's dinner.

He put the drug in during the walk to their room, left it on their table, and escaped without arousing suspicion. They were all a little preoccupied with trying to yell over eachother. With that done, he returned to 'his' lab and proceeded to try and decode some of these papers.

"Kabuto-san, Orochimaru-sama requests your permission." He didn't accidentally eep, which he considered a small victory. He nodded to the lackey who had been sent to fetch him before quickly taking the map from his desk again. He frantically searched for Orochimaru's office and found it on the bottom floor, he had better hurry.

"Ororchimaru-sama?" He knocked politely on the door, tried to remember how Kabuto had acted that day at the memorial stone.

"Enter, Kabuto-kun." Kabuto swallowed his fear, buried it as deeply as he could, and obeyed.

"Tomorrow is the day my old home falls." The snake hissed in pleasure. Kabuto fought not to show his true emotions and smiled listlessly.

"How did Naome-san react?" Kabuto adjusted his glasses and started his report, trying to make it sound like it came from his point of view rather than Naome's.

"She isn't very good at hiding how she really feels, she was noticably interested in being able to leave the village." Orochimaru smirked and Kabuto wondered what he was thinking.

"Remember Kabuto-kun, don't give the signal until the One-tail makes it's appearance." He nodded in understanding, although internally panicking and unsure what the signal was supposed to be.

This left him on the verge of freaking out, standing in ANBU garb behind a crowd of innocent civilians and two of her friends. What was the signal? What was he supposed to do, that would trigger this invasion? Should he even care?

Hinata began to cough during the first fight, it got worse when she passed out. Kiba was worried for his teammate, and Kabuto was worried for his friend, but what could he do?

"I'll rush her to the hospital." He was already picking up the body of the Hyuuga heiress and mentally calculating how long it would take by roof top.

"Che." Kibda didn't like the idea of this, but he couldn't say anything against a member of ANBU. Besides, Hinata needed medical attention. When the ANBU left, carrying her away to treatment, he realized that the scent was familiar. That ANBU smelled like the Kabuto guy from the first exam.

Kabuto dropped Hinata off at the ER before he realized that he'd been very stupid. Why did he need to know the signal? He wasn't even real! However, he had the best possible oppurtunity while henged as Kabuto.

He decided that this invasion was going to be over before it even started. Good thing he stocked up on supplies before leaving Orochimaru's base.

_Hikaru Bunshin POV!_

Hikaru sat all alone in a blank room. The door wasn't even locked, but he hadn't tried escaping yet. He was half heartedly playing with a dog plushie and wondering why nobody had come in. The only one to enter so far had been a woman who gave him a plate of something that might have been food. He ignored it since as a bunshin he didn't need food, and as a human he was against eating anything that moves.

He was bored, and knew that the day of the exams had already started. He hadn't gotten any memories from another bunshin though so he wasn't sure what his next plan of action should be. In the end though, boredom won out.

He had a rare oppurtunity, sitting here alone, unguarded, and vastly underestimated behind an unlocked door of Orochimaru's secret base. With that in mind, he decided that he'd had enough sitting around.

In case he was being watched, he didn't drop the henge. He walked over to the door as Hikaru and reached up for the handle. It was hard, with hands that seemed far too small, to turn the knob, but he managed.

The hall was empty, and no alarms were going off. He blinked impishly and smiled. He turned left and began toddling off. He'd either run into someone or he'd find something cool to destroy. Maybe he could find some of Orochimaru's notes about the curse mark, that would be useful. Or maybe identities of other spies?

He found the laboratory after a cursory search, but no one was home. His little brows scrunched together when he pouted. He went through the entire base, but it was empty, save for a couple of the semi intelligent experiments gone wrong. Those made him shudder.

He went to Orochimaru's office. There was a desk with a whithered hand on it, it had a ring around one finger. Whatever it was, it looked important. Orochimaru didn't seem the kind of guy to keep a useless knick knack. So he pocketed the ring. He couldn't make himself take the hand when he realized it was real, decaying, and smelled to the high heavens.

Being this small really was a bother, so now he decided to dispel the henge, leaving a bunshin of Naome standing in a missing nin's office. She blinked, a bit disoriented by the sudden height change.

She rifled through his desk, found notes on forbidden jutsu, but nothing important. It seemed like almost everything of value had been taken. The rest was probably going to be taken later, after Konoha was supposedly destroyed. Oh well, that just meant she had stuff to destroy.

She found a cool pair of orange tinted glasses in one of the drawers and decided to keep them as a trophy. When she put them on, she realized why Orochimaru had them. It was a rush seeing the world like this.

The papers about the glasses explained that there was a seal on each lense, on the right lense was a seal that revealed hidden chakra signatures, on the left was a seal for guaging the health of anything living she looked at! Meaning she saw the chakra levels, heart beat rate, any hidden or unhidden injuries, even if chakra was being used to alter the appearance!

She was glad he hadn't thought to take a good look at Kabuto bunshin through these glasses, otherwise he would've realized his second in command had been replaced. She gulped when she thought about what that would have meant before forcing herself to focus.

So she got a cool pair of non-prescription glasses, that was cool. She found notes on several forbidden, yuck, jutsu. These were jutsu like Edo Tensei, which she found the _original_ scroll for.

The original scroll which had been written by the Nidaime, Tobirama Senju himself. She read the description of the technique, purely out of curiosity not any desire to use a forbidden technique, and was horrified.

Edo Tensei was used to ressurect shinobi who had died to be used in suicidal tactics. She looked at the date on the scroll and concluded it had been created during the war, when shinobi willing to take suicidal missions would have been useful. The fact a Hokage could create something like this though, did not sit well with her.

She forced herself to put the scroll in her pouch, because she suddenly had a thought. To have this scroll, he intended to use this technique. Could he use it on Hokage-jiji? Maybe he would summon someone who was stronger than he was!

Naome's eyes clenched shut as she forced herself to calm down. Think of this as a mission. She needed to finish going through this stuff, then she'd set back all his experiments. She had to make sure that Orochimaru didn't have any more spies she didn't know about.

There were more forbidden jutsu, but she was too afraid to look at them. What other cruel things were listed here? She found a detailed list of experiments, plans for future experiments, and something called the Curse Seal level two. That sounded bad.

That's all she found though, no matter how she combed the room nothing stood out to her. Besides the ring, the glasses, and the Nidaime's scroll, nothing remained in the office. It seemed like he had already taken everything important out.

She sighed before taking a map of the base she found and heading to the labs. It was time to disable any and all experiments here, then move on.

She went through the labs, taking any documents in case they were important, showing mercy to the things floating in tubes. All of this was horrifying! How could anyone be so twisted and cruel?

If she wasn't a bunshin, she would have lost her lunch. As it were, the feeling of nausea was all consuming by the time she finished. She happily smashed anything she could reach. That wasn't all there was though.

She was moving through the halls, heading to a lower level of cells where she assumed experiment candidates were held, when she met someone.

The boy was maybe a year or two older than her, pale as paper with short black hair. He saw her and his eyes narrowed, but not even a hint of emotion showed through.

"What is a konohagakure ninja doing down here?" He asked her, his hands fingering a scroll. He was obviously unaware of her presence here. Was he one of Orochimaru's men?

"My name is Naome Uzumaki, and I'm kind of breaking things. Typically the stuff glowing in jars." She snarked, flashing a victory sign. If he attacked, could she take him?

"Then our goals do not differ." He seemed to relax slightly, putting away the scroll but leaving the pouch it was in open. He'd be able to get to it quickly if she tried anything.

"Did you come from the lower cells? Did you already destroy everything there or do I have to go down and finish up?" She asked, nodding down the way he'd come.

"I killed all the people in the cells, there were no other experiments or information." She nodded, a little relieved not to have to do anything.

"Well then I guess its time for me to bail. I need to report to Hokage-sama." She didn't turn her back on him, instead back stepping until she had turned the corner. Then she bolted down the door. That guy was weird, but he didn't seem to be an enemy. Maybe he had been a spy working for their village, pretending to work for Orochimaru.

The pale boy blinked when the girl was gone. She wasn't in the report. He mentally did the non-emotional equivalent of a shrug and moved to a far off room where it was listed the jinchuriki's son had been taken to.

He found the room, and there was even a plate of what might have been gruel and a few toys, but no child. If he had emotions he would have felt a little miffed since his secondary objective was to retrieve the boy to be trained in ROOT for Danzo-sama. As it were, he shut the door and checked the rest of the base, in case the boy had wandered off or been taken somewhere else.

He would have to tell Danzo-sama that Hiruzen-sama had apparently sent his own men into the base. Just as the girl said, the labs were all decemated. There was nothing to salvage to take back for Danzo-sama, only destruction and corpses. The girl was a proffessional demolitionist it would seem. She left no tracks as to her identity, although it was shoddy work to leave without doing anything about him or checking the lower cells for herself. He might have been lying.

The Naome bunshin reached the surface without any preamble. One minute she was in a dark hallway, the next she was walking out and into the blinding light of morning. It took a few minutes for her eyes to adjust and she made her way to the arena, planning to give the things she picked up to the original.

_Kabuto bunshin POV!_

Kabuto was standing near the outer walls. He had reasoned that no matter how many spies Orochimaru had on the inside, the full force had to be waiting beyond the sheltering walls of Konoha. He practiced the stealth that made Naome a pranking master as he ducked through the gates.

It actually wasn't hard to find the main force. Even if it was a group of shinobi, it is very difficult to hide a large group of people. The group numbered about fifty and six of them were around a seal array.

Kabuto's brows wrinkled in curiosity as he recognized it as being used for summoning. They were going to summon something, probably something big to take down the walls. If they were allowed to do that, then they'd cause alot of damage!

He was a bunshin, as such he couldn't use the summoning jutsu that Naome could. Which meant he couldn't fight anything that came from the array. Which, logically, meant he had to somehow take down fifty shinobi before it got activated.

If he was the original, he could summon a hundred bunshins to take them down all at once. However, even if he hadn't used alot of his chakra, he didn't have enough for that many. Bunshins could make bunshins, but only about ten or so. After that they became unstable. That meant he had to get creative. Good thing he was a bunshin of the prank master.

He set traps around the perimeter, deadly ones that used poison in place of paint clouds. Exploding tags rigged to be thrown into the middle of the group when he activated the trap. For a finishing touch, he took out a sentry and henged into the guy to create confusion when he sprung his trap.

There wasn't any point in putting it off, so when he was sure that everything was ready, he made a sign. With that, kunai were flung from all angles directly into the group. Some hit, some didn't, but the real danger was wrapped around the hilts.

Normally exploding tags are tied at the end, it was easy to do in the heat of battle. Since he'd had the time though, and wanted to take them by surprise, he had wrapped the tags around the hilt. The wave ended and they were starting to react to the threat when the boom sounded.

He had taken cover behind a decently thick tree, to avoid being dispelled. When the smoke cleared only ten of the shinobi were left, and those were injured badly. He striked.

With that done, he stood in the middle of the array. He doubted fifty shinobi was the sum total of the force, and he knew that the explosions were large and loud enough to draw plenty of attention. People, whether from Oto or Konoha, would arrive to investigate.

He erased the array, made sure no one was left alive, and vanished in a puff of smoke just as he caught a glimpse of Konoha ANBU. Good, his job here was done.

_Naome's POV!_

Naome grunted from surprise as memories made themselves known in her head. The accompanying headache was merciless. Holy Sage but that was bad! She resisted the urge to groan and rubbed at her sore eyes. The things she'd seen were going to haunt her dreams for the next few days, she just knew it.

"Naome-chan?" Shika's hands on her shoulder helped to ground her and she took a shaky breath.

"One of the bunshins from yesterday dispelled. It was bad." She muttered in answer to his silent question. He half looked like he didn't want to know but she couldn't tell him regardless. The scene at the array was so easy. She had known those men would die, and she hadn't hesitated.

She refocused on the fight below and wondered at it all. Sasuke was faster, he used a style that reminded her of Lee's, but it wasn't Goken. It was just the speed that made her think of the bowl cut bushy browed boy. He could've copied his moves with the sharingan, but she guessed to Sasuke that might feel like cheating.

She made a mental note, beside numerous others, to work on speed training. She couldn't fall behind the last Uchiha now, after everything she'd done. Maybe she had been focusing too much on strength.

Hmm, thinking of her mental notes, maybe she should just write a list. Sooner or later she'd forget something and then her skills in that area would drop and some enemy would use it to his advantage. Yeah, after the invasion and before the wedding she would definantly make a list of things to do.

Sasuke looked like he had everything under control. The sand couldn't keep up with his movements and for a few seconds Naome thought he might win. He would beat Gaara into submission and she could fight him in the next round!

Then Gaara called up his shield. She looked quizically at the sphere of sand, wondering what he was doing behind it.

"He can't win if he just hides." Shikamaru murmured beside her, almost into her ear. She took a pleasant moment to bask in their close contact. That second was enough for Sasuke to realize he couldn't get through the sand normally. So he started climbing the wall.

"What's he doing?" She wondered. Kakashi had been training him personally for the month, which both irked and made sense to her. Orochimaru had targetted him, he had a known jinchuriki for an opponent. He needed the training. It still kind of hurt to be pushed aside like that.

The sound of a thousand chirping birds filled the air and she watched as Sasuke's chakra became visible. It took the form of lightning, a ball of it in his hand. He began moving at Lee speed down the wall, leaving a long furrow where his new move crushed the wall. It was impressive, it was chidori.

She watched Sasuke avoid the spikes that jutted from the sphere as he thrust his arm through the solid wall. A moment of silence, and a scream.

It was a heartbreaking sound, that of a scared child, and she realized fully that they were still children. Twelve, he's only twelve years old. Eleven, she was only eleven years old. She'd be twelve in just over a month.

The mother in her cried in outrage at the sound of a hurt child and her hands clenched at her side. Her expression was stony. She must have looked like she didn't care at all.

Shikamaru's grip tightening on her shoulder told her that he wasn't fooled. She leaned back, slightly into his chest. She didn't care that this was the most intimate contact they had shared yet, she just wanted comfort.

Naome caught a glimpse of the One-tailed's true form when an arm burst forward, groping for Sasuke's hastily retreating body. The hand returned just as quickly as it had appeared and the sand sphere broke apart. Gaara was injured, for maybe the first time in his life.

On the other side of the box, Temari and Kankuro jumped over the railing and down into the arena. Naome blinked after them, thought briefly about following, and was stopped by the arrival of another bunshin.

"Hikaru Bunshin?" She guessed.

"No time, things are starting to go crazy. Since Kabuto didn't give the signal the different factions are starting at all different times! I got some cool stuff for you!" The bunshin bit out in a rush, digging out the scroll in which she had sealed everything and then handing Naome the glasses.

"You'll understand when I dispel!" Naome's knees buckled and she felt Shikamaru catch her before giving her attention to the memory onslaught.

"Shikamaru, I have to go." Gaara was making an escape with his siblings, Sasuke had already left, hot on their trail.

"I know." He nodded.

"I'll see what I can do upstairs." She smiled, and because she was still an impulsive kid at heart, she kissed him full on the lips.

Shikamaru gaped in surprise, unable to move for a couple seconds. When he regained control over mind and body, and realized Shino was gone, he smirked lazily and made his way to the stairs. Well, if that was the type of good luck charm he got then maybe it wouldn't be too troublesome to fight after all.

Naome sprinted to make up for lost time. When she realized there wasn't a visible trail to follow, and there were too many chakra signatures around for her to differentiate, she bit her thumb.

"Hiya, got any candy?" Gamakichi wasn't just a lovable play mate for her kids, he also had a wonderful sense of smell.

"Gamakichi, I need you to track some people for me." She said, handing him a lolly pop she had stashed away for just such an occasion.

She followed the young frog, hopping just ahead of her, and wondered how she was going to play this. Sasuke would make a good ally but he couldn't fight if Gaara pulled out the one-tail. Temari she might be able to take out, but Kankuro was unknown. What was that thing strapped to his back anyway? Some kind of weapon?

"Um, Naome-nee there are nine guys following us." Naome resisted the urge to curse like a sailor. She simply made the cross Bunshin sign and left five bunshin to take care of it. They didn't have time for distractions.

"Two of the five people we're following are fighting now." Naome blinked. Wait a minute, why were there five? Gaara, his siblings, and Sasuke only made four.

Her hand slapped her forward. Shino, it could only be him. He must've been POed about not getting to fight Kankuro so had followed. She knew enough about the Aburame to know that he had probably bugged the cat suit guy. She just hoped he could hold his own against an unknown opponent, he was a friend, albeit a distant one.

They went around, to avoid getting caught in the cross fire. They went through an area that looked like a small forest fire went at it and she guessed Sasuke had been through here. This had Hosenka written all over it.

"We're getting close, smells like a fight too." Two opponents, and one was Sasuke. She hoped her teammate was okay.

Things didn't look good when she burst into the scene. She jumped forward and round house kicked a transformed Gaara away from her teammate, who lay prone and unmoving on a tree branch behind her now.

"Sasuke, what's your status?" She asked, not daring to turn away from the thing from nightmares she was staring at. Half his face and one arm was changed, it was disgusting with drool falling from his mouth like that.

"I used too much chakra." He coughed out, struggling to rise on his elbows to sit up. Gamakichi looked him over for any wounds but other than some scratches, he looked okay.

"Sasuke, just sit tight with Gamakichi. He's mine." She could guess he wanted to argue but low on chakra, he was in no fit shape to fight.

"Uzumaki, the Uchiha boy was able to wound me. When I kill you, I shall truly feel alive!" The thing that was Gaara shouted to the high heavens.

"First I'll finish off the Uchiha!" The giant hand came from the side, and she knew if it passed by her Sasuke would die. She _moved._

Two kage bunshins moved Sasuke away, two held the hand back from following, and Naome was already summoning more.

"Taju Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" The clearing was filled with blonde girls in battle gear. Kunai were drawn, hand signs were made, and chaos reigned.

Wind and fire jutsu mixed and created an unstoppable typhoon of distruction. Sand grew so hot that it crystalized into glass. Naome stood watching it all and hearing a scream of outrage. She didn't truly understand what she was feeling at the moment, only that she hoped that she didn't burn the entire forest to the ground.

The fire and smoke cleared and she gulped. There was the One-tail, in it's full form, towering over her. She felt very much like an ant standing against a giant. If this had been released in the village, she didn't want to think about it.

"Any ideas?" She eeped and turned to see Sasuke standing unsteadily behind her. He smirked at her surprise before gesturing to the giant racoon above them.

"One, but I need space. You might want to back up, alot." He bit his lip, like he wanted to fight with her, but nodded. He recognized that now was not a time for ego. Here and now there was just a fight and who was capable to stand in it. Right now, that wasn't him.

"Summoning jutsu." Naome had closed her eyes when she slammed her hand down, but she opened them when the feeling of rising finished. She was now high up and standing on the back of a giant toad. A red one with a scar on one eye, wearing a yakuza jacket.

"Naome-chan, what's the meaning of this?" Gamabunta questioned her, his pipe in one hand.

"Gamabunta-sama, I could really use some help here. I think I made it angry!" She cried, pounting at the waiting tanuki.

"Shukaku, this'll be troublesome." The giant toad sighed, bringing to mind a pine apple haired shinobi.

For the first five or so minutes, Naome became increasingly aware of how weak she still was. She was stronger than most genin, knew more jutsu. She had already mastered her primary element.

She couldn't compare to what Shukaku and Gamabunta were doing. She had the uncomfortable knowledge that falling off would mean being squished by a giant foot. It was both a humbling experience, and a frightening one. She quickly decided she didn't like it.

"Oi, Naome." She looked down to face Gamabunta.

"We're going to need a combined transformation if we're going to get close enough to wake up the medium." Wake up the medium? Did he mean Gaara?

She looked across the way and there was the redhead, being held up by sand and looking very much like a pimple on the great sand demon's forehead. He was sleeping, or unconcious. Would waking him up send the tanuki back where it came from?

"I'll provide the chakra, you just pick a form. Think of something with fangs and claws!" He ordered her. Naome felt his chakra, she was so close she didn't need her chakra sense, and panicked. The first, and only, thing she could think of was the Kyuubi. Well, he said fangs and claws.

Gamabunta, in Kyuubi form, grabbed a tree with one of his new nine tails and charged forward. When Shukaku tried to throw another of his air bullets, the tree became shrapnel, having been used for a shield. The once-toad latched onto the sand demon, a puff of smoke, and she flew.

Her fist was cocked back and she was on a perfect route to beam it straight into the redhead's cheek. Naome felt her muscles contract but when she tried to pull it forward, with all her strength, the sand reacted.

Tendrils wrapped around her arm, and both legs. She felt it pull her, trying to get her away from the host body, but she had come too far to stop here.

"Wake up dammit!" She cussed, bringing her head down with an almighty crack that she was sure gave her a concussion.

The Shukaku's presence dwindled as it screamed in rage, not ready to give up freedom so soon. Gaara looked up and glared at her with a manic desperation that startled her.

The sand crept over her body, this was the start of sand coffin. Naome probably should have felt fear overwhelm her, that was clearly what Gaara was waiting for and why it was creeping so much slower than normal, he wanted to see her fear. Really all she felt was mad.

Gamabunta's tongue wrapped around her in a vain attempt to keep the sand at bay but it crept through the cracks. Naome came to the conclusion that unless something happened, and now, she was going to die. The siphon tag activated.

That meant the Kyuubi's chakra was trying to get into her system. She hated the idea of using it. But she had already seen how outmatched she was. If she didn't use it, she was going to die.

If she died, then by proxy so did Sasuke. Eventually, maybe everyone in her village. Including Hikaru and Yurei. That could not be allowed to happen. Knowing this, and seeing no way around it, she ripped of the tag.

The force of the red chakra blew away the sand and Gamabunta drew his tongue back so fast she wondered if he might swallow it. She felt the rage, at the threat to her home, the threat to her children, the hopelessness, because she was too weak to beat those threats back, and finally the the shame, at having to use the Kyuubi's chakra.

She felt it all, acknowledged each new emotion, felt how the Kyuubi's chakra tried to enhance them, and then calmly shoved them aside. Her face was almost serene as she looked up at a horrified Gaara.

She burst forward with new speed and leveled a punch that equalled the final nail in the coffin for the One-tail. It crumpled away to dust and they were falling.

They landed on different trees, just a short hop away and staring at eachother with the knowledge that whoever leveled the next blow would win.

They met in the center and Naome's fist hit his cheek with a smack that seemed to resonate. They were falling again, but this time there were no convenient trees to land on, only unforgiving ground. Naome only had time to register that this was going to hurt before she hit ground zero.

She forced herself to look up from her position to where Gaara had landed, his head tilted to face her. She moved a little, just a test, and winced in pain. Slowly, she pulled one arm from her side and pushed downwards, rewarded by easing the pressure on her chest.

"S-stay away from me!" Gaara cried desperately, believing she was going to finish the job.

"I won't disappear!" He was more trying to reassure himself than anything. Naome watched the unbearable loneliness she was so familiar with flicker in his eyes, that unstoppable wave of self-doubt. Sea foam green eyes, but they were her's all the same.

"It hurts, doesn't it? Even more than those physical wounds." She surprised herself by speaking, when she didn't think she had the breath.

"Knowing, beyond a shadow of a doubt that your existence, is entirely unnecessary." She felt her eyes start to water but she stubbornly pushed them back. A shinobi did not show their emotions. Wasn't that a cardinal rule?

"That loneliness, I've escaped it." She pulled herself forward a little, towards the stunned boy.

"I have friends, a family now. I'll do anything, to protect them, because they saved me from that loneliness." Her breath hitched in pain, her muscles were sore. The Kyuubi's chakra always left her sore like this, as though she'd run laps around the entire village.

"Friends? Is that why she is so strong?" She heard him mumble. She managed to sit up, breathing hard and knowing she probably couldn't do anything to protect herself if someone happened upon them.

She blinked and the two siblings from before, Temari and Kankuro, appeared next to Gaara. They looked a little worse for wear but still combat ready. If they chose to fight she was in trouble.

"Temari, Kankuro, we're done." The two siblings were stunned as they gazed down at their little brother. They had never seen him so tired, so worn out.

"...Okay, Gaara." Kankuro said finally, pulling his brother up to a sitting position and then swinging one arm around his shoulders. Gaara raised his head a little to face Naome and she lifted her head a little and looked him in the eye.

Temari and Kankuro never learned what went on in that silent conversation, but Naome nodded like she had seen whatever she was looking for and their brother relaxed in their arms.

"Get out of my village." She said, putting more bravado into the order than she felt. The trio nodded and took off, west to their home country of Suna, in the land of Wind.

Sasuke landed beside her and raised an eyebrow towards the retreating shinobi. He looked down quizically at the blonde haired kunoichi and took in her haggard appearance.

"Ne, Sasuke? Lets go home." He sighed but swung her arm over his shoulder to help her stand. It couldn't be helped, since he had such a crazy knucklehead for a teammate.

Naome passed out halfway to the village. Sasuke dropped her off at the hospital, then went with all the other genin to survey the damage and start cleaning up so they could bring the civilians back in. Naome was diagnosed with mild chakra exhaustion and numerous, steadily healing, injuries.

_Sandaime Hokage, Earlier, Atop the Kage section of the stadium._

Hiruzen contemplated how things might have gone had he not already known about Orochimaru's plans to impersonate the kazekage. It would most likely have ended with his death, he wasn't to proud to admit that. With the warning though, and the realization that someone had sabotauged the four shinobi who were meant to make the barrier, things were a little more even.

the ANBU already knew what to do and while the Sound Four were off balance from whatever prevented their chakra usage, and had activated their curse seals. His old student was obviously cunfounded by this turn of events and was fighting off Hiruzen himself and three shinobi.

"Old man, I'll kill you!" Anger made him sloppy. Hiruzen calmly, without mercy, fought as hard as his age allowed against what was once his favorite student. How much had he failed the young boy?

"This is your last day on this Earth, Orochimaru." He stated with absolute finality.

Orochimaru didn't have the time to call up any jutsu, instead forced to rely on the very basics and taijutsu against the four supremely skilled opponents.

Orochimaru was livid. The signal had never come, which meant Kabuto had been discovered, or had betrayed him. His snake summons had never appeared at the walls, which should have been the biggest distraction of the invasion. The one-tail never made an appearance. Everything was falling apart!

His sound four had already started using level two, Tayuya was dead. Without her chakra her ability to use her genjutsu was completely countered. Someone on the inside must have used a chakra disruption drug. That pointed to Kabuto, as the only one skilled enough to lace their food and with access to the drug.

"We're retreating!" He finally growled in distaste, dispatching one of the annoying ANBU that had finally made a mistake. The invasion was a failure. How had they managed to counter every part of his plans? No single person knew the full scope of the plan, in order to prevent such things as sabotauge.

Jirobo fell as they were making their getaway. Sakon and Ukon stayed behind to act as a decoy, using berserker tactics to take down five ANBU between them before Ukon fell. Only Orochimaru and Kidomaru managed to escape the village alive. This was a grave day indeed.

Hiruzen looked over his village before ordering the ANBU to any areas that needed assistance most. Himself, he went to find the largest force in order to help. A kage should always lead his people into battle. The Will of Fire will continue to burn.

The invasion was repelled, and now all that was left was to rebuild what had been destroyed and let the civilians back into the village from the safe houses in the mountain. The end of the fighting also meant that it was time to return to any Kage's bane, his desk filled with reports on the attack.

"Hello Jiraiya." He greeted his last student, who chuckled before dropping the camoflauge and falling from the ceiling.

"Naome did well against the Shukaku. One of her bunshins actually disrubted the distance summoning Orochimaru had planned." Hiruzen nodded, lighting his pipe with a small katon. Ah, nicotine, to what would he be without thee?

"She's in the hospital, sleeping off some minor exhaustion and a few cuts and bruises." That was good news. He hated to think that his surrogate granddaughter might have been hurt.

Late that night, when all the paperwork had been finished and he was almost ready to go home for dinner, he came across the chunin exam papers. He looked over the files for the various genin and decided he could spend the next twenty minutes or so looking over the choices for promotion.

Shikamaru Nara showed a great amount of planning and forethought in his fight. He had all the recommended skills for a chunin. Hiruzen wrote him down. Next was Sasuke Uchiha, his fight had showed him to have the necessary combat skills but he was unable to show his planning skills. Understandable considering his opponent but alas, the rules stated he must show proper forethought.

Shino Aburame never got a chance to fight, a true shame as he had heard good things about the boy. This left Naome Uzumaki, he already had her written down but he looked over her file anyway, just for a reference and to decide what he should do with her.

_File Subject: Naome Uzumaki: Rank: Genin._

_Succesfully completed Missions: 50 D-ranks, 1 C-rank, 1 A-rank, 1 S-rank._

_Skill Set: Ability to use Kage Bunshin to great affect, numerous Futon jutsu, above average Taijutsu skill, below average genjutsu skill._

_Situated on Team seven under Kakashi Hatake, team members are Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno._

_**Dependents: Hikaru Uzumaki and Yurei Kaguya. **_

The last part had been added just a while ago, after he had finished drawing up adoption papers for Yurei-chan. He should probably meet his great-grandchildren. Perhaps after things settled down. He hadn't been able to buy Naome ramen since before her graduation! Although, if her son took after her his wallet might need to be put on a strict diet.

Shikamaru Nara would wind up on the Border Patrol, which is where the general new chunin were stationed until their talents were discovered, after which they would be placed in whatever field they could specialize in.

There were all sorts of the chunin squads, ranging from Border Patrol, to Academy Teacher, to Intelligence, to T&I. Each of these were made of chunin, the ones who made up a majority of their fighting force. Each one led to a specializing, in numerous different areas.

Naome Uzumaki had shown an affinity for each squad though, which made her placement more difficult. She would do well as Border Patrol, keeping the peace through the country and doing a majority of the C-ranks that came into the office. She did well with younger children, Konohamaru for instance, and he suspected she'd do well in teaching. The Intelligence squad was a place where she could learn more about her future goal, becoming Hokage.

T&I though, that is where he knew she would thrive the most, loathe as he was to admit it. Naome only had the basic of Interrogation but she had used them to startling effeciency. If she took her education further, then she might become the head of T&I itself. Ibiki had already mentioned he wouldn't be adverse to taking her on as an assistent.

Hiruzen sighed before approving her assignment to T&I. He could not keep protecting her, coddling her. He no longer had such a right. She would succeed or fail on her own merits.

_The Next Day, Konoha Hospital._

Sakura wasn't sure what to think of Hikaru when Naome first came out as his mother. She didn't know what to think of this new change when she had just gotten the world into a specific category again after Nami. Learning that Naome had apparently adopted an orphan named Yurei Kaguya though, was something entirely different and startlingly the same.

Both children sat near as possible the bed on which Naome still slept. Sakura had come in to visit her teammate and finally apologize for her rude words, and been introduced to Yurei by an obviously sleep deprived Shikamaru.

Of course, sleep deprived to Shikamaru Nara meant he just hadn't had his nap today.

Speaking of pine apple haired shinobi, Shikamaru was lazily playing against himself on a shogi board. Sakura, along with the a majority of Konoha, had witnessed the 'scene' between him and Naome after his match, so it made sense to her romantically inclined mind that he be here, waiting for her to wake up.

This scary and heavily pregnant Anko Mitarashi though, who apparently thought of Naome as a younger sister and was the god mother of Hikaru Yurei, was unexpected. She took it in stride though and didn't ask how the two knew eachother.

"Aw man, when is Naome-nee gonna wake up!" Sakura gasped and turned around to see a young boy wearing goggles walk through the door. He was followed by a young girl with twin pigtails and a boy wearing glasses.

"Troublesome, she fought very hard in the invasion yesterday, give her time to rest." Shikamaru drawled, although he was of the same opinion.

"Konohamaru-san." Yurei had been encouraged to call him nii-san by the boy himself, but she was still too uncomfortable around him. She had stayed with him in the safe houses and introduced herself and Hikaru as Naome's children. Thus a friendship was born!

"Hi Yurei-imouto, Hikaru-otouto!" Konohamaro on the other hand had no compunctions about his epiphets.

The room was getting louder and louder as the children started up a small game and Anko began whining about wanting dango and not so subtly hinting that someone should go buy her some. Shikamaru went back to his game and tried to ignore it, only getting involved if Hikaru got frustrated because they wouldn't let him play.

"Ow, I feel like Gamabunta sat on me." Came a soft groan. The room instantly quieted as attention was brought to a waking Naome. Still half asleep, the blonde sat up and stretched, getting the kinks out and trying to throw off this groggy feeling.

"...Morning." She said lamely, finally noticing the large amount visitors in her room.

"Kaa-chan!" Came two cries as Naome was assaulted by the flying forms of her children. Naome smiled and hugged her children, reassuring them that yes, kaa-chan was just fine. Did you think Kaa-chan couldn't take care of herself?

"So, how long have I been out?" She asked the crowd once the initial tears of relief had stemmed in all the childrens' eyes.

"Only a day. We repelled the invasion without any trouble." Shikamaru reported faithfully, sounding a bit more withdrawn when he thought about it. He had blood on his hands now, from two Oto-nin who had attacked him when he reached the stands. He was still learning to accept it though.

"That's great!" The day was spent as they informed her of what had happened in the stands, and the restoration missions going around for the genin to fix up areas damaged by the invasion. So far it seemed only minor damage, since the main force never made it into the village proper, but they were tedious.

Naome listened as politely as possible, and was relieved when she heard about how three of the sound four had been killed and that Hokage-jiji was alright, but what she really wanted to do was leave the hospital to go and report about the stuff she found in Orochimaru's lair.

Eventually, Iruka-sensei came to retrieve the wayward students, who had apparently decided visiting Naome was more important than a test on the history of Konoha. Anko had to go because she was getting fitted for her wedding kimono. The wedding was in just a week after all. Sakura left after apologizing, and being forgiven, to do a few restoration missions.

This left Shikamaru, Hikaru, and Yurei in her room. Naome took this as an oppurtunity to change behind a curtain back into her normal clothes. She inspected her stuff, made sure she had everything she found in Orochimaru's base, before promising to explain everything to Shikamaru later, when little ears weren't listening.

"When will they let me out of here?" She asked him.

"Don't know. They're so busy though I doubt they would notice if you happen to walk out." He suggested with a smirk. She was really rubbing off on him!

"Hikaru, Yurei, will you be good for Shika-kun for me? I need to go talk to Hokage-sama." The two children made her promise to come home and take them out to eat, but they promised in turn to be good.

Naome smiled apologetically to Shikamaru, for saddling him with them, but he only shrugged and told her not to be troublesome. She gave him a peck on the cheek in thanks before darting off to the tower.

Reaching the window, she made sure that he wasn't in a meeting when she was caught. Ero-sensei and Danzo-san were both inside and they motioned for her to come inside and join them.

"Sorry, if your busy it can wait." She said uncertainly. The air seemed kind of tense.

"Does this have to do with your two bunshins? I understand one of them disrubted the summoning array meant to destroy our walls." Danzo-san questioned her.

"Partially, but mostly to do with the other one." With that she explained about the Kabuto bunshin lacing chakra disrupting drug into the sound four's food, about how it had gone to the stadium and been left in a secluded position to signal the invasion, and how it had left the village to scope out the main force and proceeded to decimate fifty shinobi.

Naome had killed again, even though it was a bunshin it felt like she had done it herself. It hadn't really sunk in that she had killed so many, and so brutally, until now.

Shaking it off, she then begun explaining the circumstances of the Hikaru-bunshin. About how it had been left in an unlocked room and unhenged back into Naome before destroying all the labs on that level and going to Orochimaru's private office.

Here she began taking from a storage scroll all the things she had found there. The many forbidden jutsu, yuck, the ring minus the hand, ew, and the cool glasses, sweet. She kind of wanted to ask if she could keep the glasses but they wouldn't do her much good anyway. They might work better in a different setting, like T&I to see if captured shinobi were hiding anything.

She explained how she started to move for the lower sections, when she met the strange pale boy. He had been near her age, maybe a year or so older, and very pale with black hair. She didn't know who he was working for though, and when Hokage-jiji told her he didn't send anyone down there, she guessed he might have been a ninja from another village, a spy sent to destroy Orochimaru's work for a past wrong maybe.

"That's pretty much it. Unless you want to hear about my fight with Gaara, which really wasn't all that interesting. Gamabunta did most of the fighting." She finished.

"You did very well Naome. I'm very proud of you." Naome chuckled and rubbed the back of her head in slight embarassment. The praise felt good, but she got so little of it she was never really sure what to do when it was offered.

"Sooo~...Did I make chunin?" She asked curiously, leaning across the Hokage's desk to try and see if he had the exam papers out and ready.

Hiruzen chuckled at her expression before he informed her she would find out, with the other genin, in a few day's time after the invasion scandal died down a bit. She shot him a crestfallen look but didn't argue.

"Since you're here Gaki, we're leaving for a mission in eight days." Jiraiya said, startling her as somewhere between retelling about destroying the array and finding the strange, pale boy, she had forgotten two other people were present.

"Eight days? What mission?" It would be the day after the wedding. Which implied it wasn't the sort of thing they could just go out and be back in a couple days.

"I believe it's high time that my other wayward student make her way back home." Hiruzen spoke up, drawing her attention.

"Tsunade Senju was my student alongside Jiraiya and Orochimaru, she left the village ten years ago and we could use her expertise here. She is widely regarded as the best Medic-nin of our time." He didn't have to say anymore. Naome remembered coming across her name when Zoro looked at scrolls on first aid treatment in the field.

"We're leaving bright and early in eight days, so rest up, do whatever it is pre-teen girls do, and I'll see you then!" The 'gallant' Jiraiya said dramitically, complete with stylish pose.

Naome left the office in a reasonably good mood, looking forward to a B-rank mission in little over a week. Now that the whole chunin exam fiasco was over and done with she could concentrate on spending a little R&R time with her babies and Shika-kun! Especially Shika-kun.

Speaking of Shika-kun. Naome peeked inside her apartment to see him tickling Yurei-chan while Hikaru laughed loudly like he was the one being assaulted. She smiled and was about to announce her presence when she heard Hikaru shout.

"Tou-san, me next!" She blinked for a minute and watched as Shikamaru let Yurei-chan up and was then tackled by both children for vengeance. This was a...surprisingly domestic scene. He really looked like a father, playing with the children on the couch of the living room, waiting for the mother to return from whatever errand she had left for.

It was a scene that was fast becoming normal placed in her hectic life, but only now did she stop to actually think about it, rather than taking it for granted. She watched Shikamaru look at Hikaru with a little pride in his eyes, how his lazy smirk turned into a true smile when Yurei-chan laughed and played with his let down hair. She watched him play with her children, his children, their children, and decided once and for all that she didn't want to lose this.

She wanted to always have him to use as an impromptu pillow while they watched the clouds. She wanted him to always, almost but not quite lazily, toss Hikaru into the air. She wanted to always watch him ruffle Yurei-chan's hair dilerberatly to make her pout up at him.

She wasn't sure if this was love, if she was even ready for such a thing, but Naome Uzumaki believed that the first step to getting what you want is fundamental. To get what you want, the first step is to figure out _what_ you want. Naome wanted Shikamaru, for all intents and purposes, to be the father of her babies.

"Troublesome girl, you're home." She grinned like nothing was up and knew right away he saw right through her.

"Yeah, I'm home." He smirked but his body language was taut and his full attention was on her. Whatever it is she wanted to talk about, he was there.

_One Week Later, The Wedding of Kakashi Hatake and Anko Mitarashi._

Naome, Hikaru, and Yurei were on the side meant for Anko's family. Sasuke, Sakura, and Shikamaru, stood on Kakashi's side. It was unusual that both would be orphans, but Naome liked being so closely regarded by Anko.

Anko Mitarashi wasn't someone people normally called beautiful. A devil, a snake, and if they were feeling nice, sexy, were usually more accurate. However today, wearing her pure white bridal kimono and with her hair done up in the latest fashion, Naome couldn't help but think that's what she was.

Kakashi wasn't wearing his mask. Naome spent a good five minutes openly gawking at him. She had always kind of figured that he was disfigured in some way to justify hiding most of his face. He was actually very handsome though.

A few scars showed, despite the heavy formal wear. Kakashi's scar peeked out from the band he was using in place of his Hitai-ate. Anko had one scar on her left temple, normally hidden by her bangs. A shinobi couple.

Oh yeah, this was totally ending up on her brand new extra large canvas. This entire ceremony, complete with kage presiding over it all. A little emphasis on the scars maybe, play with the lighting a little to give it a lighter theme to accentuate Anko's blinding kimono maybe.

With the drinking of the sake, the couple were bonded. Anko Mitarashi had become Anko Hatake. The reception began and the many guests mingled about, talking about how they never expected either to settle down, let alone with eachother.

"Naome, let me watch the kids, I think Shikamaru wants to dance with you!" Sakura whispered conspiringly in her ear. Naome not-so-subtly shot a glance to the lazy pine apple only for their eyes to meet before both quickly looked away.

Shikamaru was talking with Sasuke, mostly about nothing at all, but he couldn't get it in him to stop looking over at Naome every now and then.

"Shikamaru, go ask her to dance instead of looking at her like a lost puppy." He spluttered and tried not to choke on the punch he'd just brought to his lips. Since when did the Uchiha say things like that?

"Troublesome." He sighed in embarrassment. If he was anyone else, Sasuke would be laughing at his expression. As it were he just wanted the pine apple head to go already so that he wouldn't have to worry about his pink haired teammate being upset that he didn't help in her plan. His part was to make Shikamaru ask Naome to dance.

"Naome-chan, it's troublesome but, do you want to dance?" He asked holding out his hand, acting for all the world like dancing was the last thing he wanted to do. Naome smiled and took his hand, pulling him over to the dance floor.

"Shika-kun, about the kiss-!" She started.

"Naome-chan, I love you." Maybe eleven, going on twelve, is too young to know what love really is. Maybe twelve, going on thirteen, doesn't know what love really means. Maybe shinobi can never love.

Naome blushed and stood on her toes to gain an extra two inches. With that she kissed him, full on the lips, and for everyone to see. Their eyes closed and their bodies moved to dance with the music, both in their own little world.

Eventually Shikamaru had to depart to go stand by his father where the clan heads were meeting, discussing the decor and all that. Shinobi weddings were big things, and used as excuses for the pompous clans to show off with formal wear and gifts. Without the Uchiha, the Hyuuga were largely uncontested but it was a formality he had to contend in, along with other clan heads.

"Why aren't you joining them, Haku?" She asked the ice user curiously. Since his clan was more or less officially established, or would be when the children entered the academy, he was technically the head.

"The Aburame head and Hyuuga head scares me." He whispered honestly to her. Naome snickered at her friend's unease but wasn't able to talk more, having to stop Hikaru from ruining his fancy kimono by smearing icing on it.

"We meet again, Naome-san." She turned to see Danzo smiling. Or at least, she chose to interpret it as a smile. Really it looked like he was halfway between a smirk and a grimace. Time did not let this man age easily.

"Danzo-sama, a pleasure as always." She nodded her head respectfully, mindful of Yurei-chan's origins.

"Yurei-chan, Hikaru-kun, this is Danzo-sama. One of the Hokage's advisors." She introduced the man. Yurei knew enough about being polite to bow in respect but Hikaru only clung to his kaa-chan's skirt.

"So this is the little Kaguya, how has her training been going?" Naome hadn't really been pushing very far with Yurei-chan's training. She figured the little girl had plenty of time to learn how to be a kunoichi, but she only had a few years to be a child.

"She is advancing well." Naome informed him cryptically.

"Naome-san, I was wondering if you'd possible be interested in learning more about the strange boy you met in Orochimaru's hidden base." He had waited until the children were otherwise occupied by Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon before asking her.

"You know who he is? Who does he work for?" She asked, her attention garnered.

"I'm afraid I don't have the time necessary to explain fully but I'll gladly speak with you when you return from tomorrow's mission." She wondered how important this information was that he wanted to wait.

"If you are interested you can come to my home at this address." He slipped a piece of paper into her hands and she took the hint to hide it in her sleeve, out of sight. She would look at it later.

The guests went home after the couple, filled with cake, sake, and punch and looking very pleased with the whole affair over all. Naome carried Yurei and Hikaru home on her back, landing in front of her door and unlocking it without dropping either one, something only a shinobi could do.

She had arrangements to leave them with Hokage-jiji, who had claimed it a good oppurtunity to get to know his great-grandchildren. Naome had accepted his offer and promised to drop them off in the morning.

She laid down Yurei-chan in bed, tucking her in and drawing the princess canopy of her bed closed. Hikaru-chan went down in his crib and she took a moment to gawk at how much bigger he was now. She'd have to either get a bigger crib or jump to a toddler bed.

She slowly went through the house, checking security seals on the windows and doors, making sure everything was how she left it. Nothing had been tampered with, nothing changed. She yawned as she packed over night bags for Yurei and Hikaru, toys and blankets for comfort until she came home.

It was late, early depending on one's view, when she collapsed into bed. It had been a long night, and in her fatigue she completely forgot about Danzo's paper.

The next day, she dropped the kids off at the Sarutobi residence and met Jiraiya at the gates with her storage scroll of supplies, ready to rumble.

"So, where do we start the search?" She asked, chipper as always despite the late hour she fell asleep. Regenerative powers, activate.

"We'll start in Shinjuku and work our way around. Wherever she is, you can bet there is a gambling hall." Naome's ears perked up at that and she wondered if she'd have some free time to scour the halls. She hadn't played a good game in a while.

"By the way, while we're out here, I have a new jutsu to teach you." Jiraiya stated offhand, sounding too casual to be true. Naome knew that officially she was his apprentice due to the contract, but he hadn't taught her anything else other than summoning so she had wondered.

"What is it?" She asked excitedly, always ready for a new jutsu.

"It's called the rasengan." So began, and ended, the short rundown of her new jutsu. He gave her a water balloon with instructions to pop it with her chakra and that was all he would say on the matter.

She studied the balloon in her hand, adding chakra and making it swirl around and around. The balloon began to stretch and she got excited, thinking she was close, but no matter how hard she spun the water the elastic wouldn't snap!

Shinjuku was having a festival. Naome didn't know what they were celebrating but all the colored lights and the sweet smells reached her from her vantage point on the hill, looking down at it all.

"Here, hold onto this. Go out and have some fun!" Jiraiya said, tossing his backpack at her. She grumbled about it but slung it around her shoulders. Carrying Hikaru around was good weight training, and this thing was plenty lighter than her son. He moved to walk off to do whatever it is sannin do when looking for eachother but he paused and turned back to her.

"Hold on, how much money did you bring?" She blinked and took out a frog shaped wallet. It was pleasantly plump, as any Akimichi would tell you. She had named it Gama-chan.

"Been saving up, have we? I'll be taking this, to protect you from the shinobi vices. You can take this much." giving her a mere 20 yen. Enough for some food and a couple of games.

"Hold up ero-sensei! That's my wallet!" It was too late though, he was already long gone. She made a mental note to nag at him later but went down to the festival anyway. Other than her eleventh birthday she had never been to a festival, so she may as well enjoy herself.

First she bought some takoyaki, and followed it up with yakitori. With these she happily found a nice place to sit down and enjoy the festivities, watching people run and dance happily. She chuckled when she saw kids running by and asking their parents for some treats.

With her food done she went to a few games, eager to see what she could get. There was one where you had to knock down the bottles, which she aced thanks to her hours of shuriken training. For winning she got a cute Frog plush toy. She decided to give it to Hikaru-chan when she got back.

She threw some darts at balloons to win a hime kit for Yurei-chan. Then she caught some goldfish to win Shika-kun a pair of shades, so the Sun wouldn't get in his eyes when he looked at clouds.

She had almost spent all her money when she remembered why they were here in the first place. Ero-sensei was working, trying to find Tsunade-sama while she was playing games. She felt a little guilty about that, since she wasn't even training.

She got some grilled squid for him and went off on her search. It shouldn't be too hard, just find and follow the booming laughter.

It wasn't hard at all, as she expected. What she should have expected is where she found him. It was one of those booths that a brothel might set up for the visitors to meet the pretty local ladies, and surrounded by five of them and drinking like it was going out of style was the toad sage himself.

What horrified her the most, since really she had kind of expected this behavior, why else go to this area, was the empy frog wallet on the table in front of him. Flat and forlorn, a good few 100,000 yen gone, just to fuel his perverted desire. She was his unwitting benefactor.

"ERO-SENSEI!" She shouted, tossing the squid behind her as she prepared to lay down the hurt and make sure that he never passed on his genome.

"You spent _my_ money on some women? Whatever happened to the shinobi vices? You stupid old, perverted, hypocrite!" She screeched, taking advantage of her higher voice to harm his ears before she kicked him where it would hurt the most.

"You little brat, look at what you did to the boss' suit!" She was high strung and in no mood for anyone's BS, so when she felt a gruff hand on her shoulder she reacted accordingly and flung the grown man over her petite, eleven year old body.

"Can't you see I'm dispensing feminine justice?" She demanded angrily, not fully registering his problem.

"Now, now. Let me handle this, Naome." Jiraiya said, magically sober with no signs of a hangover. How did he do it? Was there some kind of sober no jutsu she didn't know about?

"Well if you want to take her punishment!" The second goon growled, rushing forward in a way that belied him as a civilian, albeit a muscled and well dressed one. The man in the middle wore a white suit with matching fedora, with a sticky stain where her squid had hit him. So that was why he was upset?

Naome's eyes were drawn to Jiraiya's hands as an orb of visible chakra swirled like a little maelstorm in the palm of his hand. Her eyes widened as he thrust it into the stomach of the goon charging him, causing him to be blown away, twisting through the air and into a stall of water balloons.

"That, Naome, was the fully completed rasengan." She must have accidentally looked impressed. Now he'd never let her live it down.

She took the water balloon out from her jacket pocket and stared at it, imagining in it's place that awesome jutsu she had just witnessed.

"...I still haven't forgiven you for spending my money on hookers." She finally decided, looking at Jiraiya in a way that said he better keep one hand on his cheque book for a while.

At the inn she struggled some more with the balloon. She was spinning it, so why wasn't it breaking? She glared at it for a few minutes before thinking back on the goon that got sent flying. The ball of chakra spinning in all directions like a big-!

"Spinning in all directions." She muttered, amazed at her lack of observation. Could it really be so simple?

She looked at the balloon, and felt her chakra mixing with the water. She spun it to the right, stopped and quickly span to the left. She kept switcing directions between left and right, then over and under, then all together. The surface of the balloon got bumpy as the water hit at different points.

Sweat dripped from her brow but she didn't slow down, instead forcing her chakra to move ever faster. The spray of water surprised her and she blinked it from her eyes. The shreds of what was once a water balloon were on the floor, in a sizeable puddle of water.

"Yatta!" She shouted in victory, running down to the restaurant where Jiraiya was eating. She'd show him!

"Faster than I expected, but nothing exceptional." Naome felt her excitement drain a little. Why couldn't he ever compliment her normally. She couldn't tell if he was happy for her, impressed, or resentful for her not doing it sooner.

"Well then, tomorrow I'll show you step two." She grinned and nodded. She could go to the onsen and soak for a bit before going to bed!

The next morning he showed her a rubber ball, the kind small children bounce down the street or play catch with.

"Now, this step is all about focus. You must focus on a singular point and pour all you power there. To complete this step, you must make this ball burst." The ball in his hand burst without warning and she gasped in surprise when she felt the breeze from the trapped air. Talk about power.

She wasn't able to practice much though, as they had to stay on the move to find Tsunade. The next village they stopped in they split up again. This time Naome was to stay in a clearing just outside of town while Jiraiya went in alone. She bet he just didn't want to risk her interrupting his 'alone time' at the brothel.

Naome looked at the ball in her hand and felt the resistence when her chakra began moving. Air was alot harder to move than water, since it had no form. If she wanted to get the same affect with a rubber ball she had to use more chakra. Still, she wasn't looking forward to it exploding in her hand. That would probably hurt.

She was alone with a bag full of rubber balls and she smirked. Some kage bunshin training would go a long way towards finishing this step in her training.

She grinned as she made a sign and twenty bunshins appeared. Each one took a ball and began spinning their chakra. She settled down with her own ball and concentrated on the ball, a singular point on the ball.

Which turned out to be alot harder than she thought. The ball's surface was exactly the same everywhere, so her eyes couldn't stay pinned to a specific point. An hour later each bunshin was glaring heatedly at their orb and cursing it.

"It's all the same, how am I supposed to only focus on one spot?" She grumbled, mentally blaming the rubber ball for all her trouble. If she couldn't get it to pop what would she do?

She threw the ball at a tree while her bunshins began to dispel. She laid down and relaxed, her eyes drifting up to the sunlight through the trees. It was a pretty scene, the Sun dancing through the leaves.

Naome raised one hand and inspected it, calloused though it was. It was a strong hand, it had never failed her. It was flexible, supple, and skin thick. She blinked up at the light framing it and looked directly at the center of her palm.

With a swift movement she unsealed a brush and ink from her storage scroll. Dipping it carefully in the jet black ink she drew a symbol on her hand, in the center. A konoha insignia now lie on her hand, she gave herself something to focus on.

She picked up the ball in her hand and concentrated. She remembered the leaf sticking excercise that she used to practice religiously. This was the same concept. She needed to focus on a single point. Focus on it, and then add chakra.

Her frustration reached a peak as the surface appeared unchanged and she grit her teeth. She just kept adding more, focusing on that konoha symbol on her hand, and was completely blown away when it promptly exploded in her face.

She felt her body carve a furrow and would've kept going for a couple of meters but her back hit something solid. She felt the pain in her hand, chakra burns, and looked up at Jiraiya.

"Did it." She muttered before promptly passing out. Minor chakra exhaustion was a small price to pay for finishing the second step to the rasengan as far as she was concerned.

The next day she woke up in yet another town, with bandages wrapped around her hands. There was definitely an ache there but when she peeled off the white strips the skin was as smooth and calloused as ever. Actually it was probably smoother since it looked like some of her callouses got blown off.

A rubber ball was tossed her way and Naome looked up in confusion to her sensei.

"Show me you can replicate the feat and I'll show you the last step." He instructed her, staring intently at the ball in her hand.

"Alright." She shrugged. She looked at the ball and focused, remembering the force of her own chakra before her hand became ground zero. It only took a few seconds, now that she'd done it once it was easier to do a second time. Without blowing herself up even!

"This next step combines the first and second." This time it was a regular balloon handed to her. She squished it in her hand and felt the thin elastic stretch. Popping this would be _too_ easy!

"The goal is _not_ to pop it." She blinked but didn't say anything. What would be the point in this case? She added chakra and was a little surprised in how easily the stretchy surface broke apart. This might be harder than she thought.

She had to follow him around now, apparently they were close on Tsunade's tail. Naome stood near the entrance of a gambling hall while Jiraiya talked to some guys as she practiced with one of many balloons. She swirled her chakra, as close as possible, then tried to add a little pressure for power. Pop!

The wind from her failure blew all around and she glimpsed some dice turn over to land on Cho. Jiraiya's face lit up when it did and she guessed he had bet for information. She wondered at her lucky timing but ultimately forgot it in favor of trying to finish this last step. Why was this so difficult?

At the inn Jiraiya ditched her to follow a scantily clad woman who happened to smile in his direction. Naome sighed at the predictability of it all. How come enemy nations just didn't send pretty kunoichi after him? He'd be dead within the week.

In her room she made some bunshins to help with her training, giving each one of her remaining balloons. Sooner or later one of them had to succeed in upping the amount of time they could hold it before it popped!

An hour later a knock sounded on the door. That was weird, because Jiraiya should have his own key. There were two of them and she had one. Did he get drunk or something and forget he had it?

"Oi, ero-sensei! Did that girl dump you already, she looked smart enough to me." She joked, getting up from the bed to answer.

She paused before opening it and paled. It looked like an adult Sasuke, but with two prominent eye ridges. Plus there was some kind of shark looking thing behind him. Naome didn't know who they were, but they weren't Jiraiya.

"Uhm, sorry but I think you two have the wrong room." She called through the door. Her instincts were saying bad situation and she turned around to find another exit. They would hear the window opening, but if she was fast she could henge into a civilian and blend in with the crowd.

She had two bunshins out, she signalled for one to hide in the closet and the other to open the door. She tip toed to the window and tested it, trying to wedge it open. It opened enough for her to stick an arm out but there it jammed.

That was when the door opened and Naome mentally readied for a kawarmii with the bunshin in the closet. This was a bad situation, with a capital BAD.

"Naome Uzumaki, you are coming with us." Her bunshin was dispelled and she had the fleeting memory of feeling her chakra being drained at the moment of it's death. So they could suck out her chakra? Gee, why not give them the sharingan too? Let them predict all her moves!

"Itachi!" If possible, she grew even paler. She had jynxed herself. She thought the word sharingan and then hears Sasuke's voice calling out the name of the Uchiha psycho who murdered his entire clan save one?

"Itachi, who's the punk kid? He has the sharingan but I thought the Uchiha were wiped out...By you." Said shark guy, grinning in what Naome knew was anticipation. Oh, this was bad. So bad, on so many levels.

"You told me to live my life hating you, well I've done just that. Today's the day it pays off!" She wanted to shout at him not to do anything stupid, but she already knew it was too late. Within a second she heard a thousand birds chirping and Itachi moved.

Sasuke screamed as his arm broke and Naome cringed in sympathy. That couldn't feel good. A knee came up and she gasped as she heard his jaw crack. He was sent out of sight and Itachi followed after him, intent on finishing what he began that night.

In retrospect, it was stupid of her to forget about Itachi Uchiha's companion. She tried to manuever past him to see what was happening to Sasuke and got tossed on her ass for all her troubles.

"Well, we don't want you causing unneccesary trouble for us, do we? How about I cut off your legs?" She was in the hall now. The shark guy with a wrapped up sword stood between her and Itachi and Sasuke. Slowly, a suicidal plan forming, she stood.

"Better idea, how about you leave my teammate alone or I'll bite of my tongue. If you need a captive you had better put him down now!" She shouted, her hands shaking at the thought, but Itachi stopped beating on his brother to look at her. She caught Sasuke's eyes and subtly shook her head. He couldn't do anything at this point.

"You would give your life for my worthless brother?" Itachi monotoned. His voice and face lacked any emotion, any warmth. She couldn't get a read on this guy. Just like Orochimaru, just like hokage-jiji when he was serious, just like any high ranked nin she'd ever met.

"If you think he's worthless you obviously don't know him. There's no one I'd rather have at my back." She answered, feeling a little braver, keeping a close eye on the shark guy.

"Agreed then." Itachi stated, releasing his hold and letting Sasuke slump to the ground.

Naome nodded, feeling too sick to trust her voice. Sasuke shakily raised his head to look at her, his face was becoming a giant bruise. She hoped he had the good sense to stay down. These were two opponents they couldn't take.

"Let us leave then." Itachi monotoned, gesturing to the stairs, implications clear. Naome took a deep breath and moved past the shark guy, closer to Sasuke, closer to not being able to escape. Maybe, if she were lucky, she could get away long enough to blur into the crowd?

"Oi Itachi, it'll be troublesome if she tries to get smart with some jutsu, why don't we chop off her arms." That would be bad. How long would it take to perform kage bunshin en masse? Too long, these were most definitely high A-rank to S-rank. A bad situation all around.

Itachi didn't answer, turning to move down the stairs. Sharky took that as approval and raised his sword. Naome only had less than a second before she lost her arms, her career, likely her life.

The sword came down and she knew even as she tried to move that she'd be too late. Her eyes flunched shut involuntarily but after what felt like an eternity no pain arrived. Scared out of her mind she opened a single eye to an amazing sight. A toad stood between her and the sword. Itachi had been forced to flee from that end of the hall and now stood behind Sharky.

"The hero always arrives at the last second." She could almost cry in relief, but she settled for backing away before the two S-rank nin could gather their thoughts.

"Ero-sensei I could kiss you!" She laughed hysterically, standing beside a crouching Sasuke. He was trying to stand up, holding his ribs tenderly. She felt a little worried about that and berated herself for never learning anything beyond the very basics of first aid.

"Do you have to call me that when I try to make a big entrance?" The fifty year old man with a young lady draped over one shoulder whined.

"...Evidently." She answered, looking pointedly at the woman.

"Brat." Apparently he had enough of playing around, because this was the first time she ever felt his KI. It felt like a giant blade coming down and _I can't move_ and _knowing_ this was death.

"You won't make it out of here alive. You are caught in my belly." He announced, performing the seals for a summoning. The walls morphed into intestines and a wall of meat attacked Itachi and his buddy. They began running, despite the ground sucking at their feet. Jiraiya cursed and followed them.

Naome and Sasuke shared a look and nodded, following the sannin in time to see him seal some black fire. There was a gaping hole in this stomach, the cloak wearing duo were out of sight.

"Dynamic Entry!" All Hell broke loose.

An hour later, Gai and Sasuke left for Konoha. Sasuke had a few broken ribs, a broken arm, and a hairline fracture along his jaw. Other than a few bruises though, he was capable of travel.

Before he left, Gai-sensei generously bequethed to her a green spandex suit. It looked like a bathing suit with long sleeves, and it was spandex. Neon green spandex. She felt dirty just touching it.

As soon as Gai was gone she dropped the thing like she'd been bitten. She thought briefly about burning it but she'd feel bad later. Cursing her sentimental self, she sealed it away. Maybe she could use it against someone later. At the very least she could leave it as a prank to someone later.

"I'm glad Hikaru's not at Day Care anymore, because they'd no doubt give him spandex too." Jiraiya nodded sagely and suggested they get moving, before the trail ran cold. Naome sighed, the adrenalin from earlier had drained away and she felt like something about the whole thing was off. Maybe it was her imagination?

They reached the village within a day of ninja travel, it really not being too far from that last town to start with. Naome looked up at the giant castle, it was a historical sight and even gave tours. It stood, tall and imposing, coming from an era even before the hidden villages. Maybe she should stop by?

The ground shook as a shockwave washed through the land, a great wind that blew her loose hair behind her and made the tails of her coat billow out. Before her eyes the great castle began to sink, crumbling from something that reflected a silhouette of a great snake.

"This bodes no good." Jiraiya huffed, recognizing the form of a summons. The only one with a snake contract was none other than Orochimaru. If he was here, what did that mean?

"I don't suppose you know why he's here?" He jokingly asked the blonde beside him, still holding the water balloon.

"Haven't heard from him since just before the invasion." She answered honestly, not catching his joke in her shock.

"Follow me, if it looks like trouble, bail." She nodded in understanding, putting the balloon in her pouch for later.

They found what looked like a scene of destruction. Naome stood on the brick fence that used to surround the castle, looking down at a pile of rubble. She turned around and looked at another example of blatant violence, one strangely disconnected from the first scene. A great big hole in a wall, looking like something crashed through it. Jiraiya was inspecting it carefully.

"This is Tsunade's work alright, no one else I know can punch like that." Naome blinked at that, her eyes widening at the implications. Orochimaru and Tsunade in the same village, within fifty meters of eachother. Why was that? Tsunade was a medic but as far as Naome remembered about what Hokage-jiji said he hadn't been that badly injured during the invasion.

"Hopefully she hasn't already turned tail." He sighed, looking away from the gravel on the ground and looking up at his apprentice.

"Come on, gaki, we're getting something to eat!" Naome wrinkled her brows, not particularly hungry and really wanting to find this Tsunade lady already, but didn't argue.

They walked to a nearby bar, which in another life she may have protested against but looked like a slice of home at the moment. She hadn't seen Takimaru in a while, she wondered who had replaced her.

"Tsunade!" "Jiraiya!" Naome eeped and looked to where Jiraiya was pointing dramatically, coming face to face with a busty blonde woman who looked to be in her early to mid twenties. This was Tsunade? She looked just like the picture in her scroll! A scroll written thirty years ago!

"I thought you said she was your teammate!" She gawked comically. Either that woman had awesome genes, or there was some kind of genjutsu at work here. She wouldn't be good enough to notice if that was the case.

"She's hiding behind a genjutsu." She was right!

"Who's the kid Jiraiya?" Tsunade asked curiously, a little suspicious. Beside her sat a dark haired woman, who appeared to be a few years younger but Naome didn't trust herself to judge her age accurately. She was holding a pig wearing a pearl necklace and pink vest, a strange choice for a pet.

"This is Naome Uzumaki, a neat little gem I picked up!" He introduced her enthusiastically. Naome bent forward a little in what was a parody of a polite bow of respect, if she ever chose to respect this person. Respect was hard to gain in her books.

"Nice to meet you Tsunade-sama." She greeted.

"How come you call her sama but I'm ero-sensei?" Jiraiya demanded with an overexaggerated pout. Naome looked at him with an Are-You-Stupid look.

"Ha! Kid's got you pegged you old lech!" Tsunade roared with laughter.

"Come over here kid and I'll buy you a drink!" Naome decided a little sake never killed anyone and sat down.

"Tsunade-sama! She's underaged!" Tsunade's nameless companion protested. Naome got the impression that this was Tsunade's morality pet.

"Peh, she's a shinobi!" Naome accepted the offered sake and felt the slight burn it made as it went down her throat. She did partake of this rice wine on occasion but she couldn't keep it around the house anymore with the kids.

"This is truly a day for reunions, what are you doing here Jiraiya?" Tsunade sighed, downing all her sake in one go.

"So Orochimaru was here. What did the poor castle do to him?" He asked, pulling out a deck of cards. Naome's eyes lit up and she watched him deal them out to Tsunade and himself.

"Don't know." She answered, looking distastefully at her hand.

"Konoha needs you." He seemed to have decided not to beat around the bush. Naome approved. She didn't doubt this Tsunade could play mind games better than she could gamble, but she seemed the type of person to appreciate honesty. She took another sip from her saucer.

"It's been decided that you will succeed sensei as the next Hokage." Naome remembered none of this and had to fight not to show her surprise over the announcement. The Old Man was planning on retiring again? She kind of felt resentful, she wanted to take the hat from him, not this woman.

"Hokage, ha! That's a fool's job!" This time Naome didn't care about hiding what she really felt. She put down her saucer and stood up, looking the fellow blonde straight into her cynical eyes.

"Fool's job? So protecting the people you care about makes you a fool?" She demanded, almost shaking in anger.

"Kid do you want to settle this outside?" Tsunade smirked, standing up to meet her unspoken challenge.

"Bring it granny!" Hey, anyone who goes to such lengths to hide their true age has got to have a few insecurities. So she found a button, and began to dance.

In the abandoned street they faced off, muscles flexing as they seized up their opponent.

"Tell you what kid, if you can get me to use more than one finger I'll take back what I said." This was a bet she couldn't lose.

Naome felt her confident smirk lift one corner of her mouth. This was just another bet into the machine. So only one finger, ne? Tsunade should have brought a pair of chopsticks, because she was going to eat those words.

She sent forward three kunai first, just testing the waters. The first was dodged, the second one Tsunade used her finger to poke through the hole at the end and deflected the third. Naome was moving forward and had a prank tag prepared, throwing it at an angle to make it child's play to dodge and would imbed itself into the wall.

Tsunade followed her line of thought but was taken by surprise when the tag burst forth a bounty of sticky sap. The kind that is impossible to get out of clothes and could work like a natural glue.

Tsunade growled and poked a finger at the ground, causing a large crack to appear and the sap to drain slowly away. Naome knew nothing she had could penetrate those defenses, at least nothing finished. She made the unfinished, highly unstable, rasengan into both hands and charged. If one missed she might be able to do it with the other. She only had to get Tsunade to use more than one finger!

Tsunade gasped in shock and Naome used the distraction to draw back her right hand, ready to end this match. That seemed to snap the sannin out of her funk though and Naome felt pain as a finger flicked her hita-ite off her forehead and away into the distance.

Another crack appeared in the ground though, and her foot got caught. She tripped and pitched forward, her right arm thrown forward to catch her. The rasengan canceled out almost as soon as it hit and she used her position to vault back onto her feet, her left hand still held the unfinished rasengan but she canceled it in favor of protecting herself against the finger flick heading her way.

She grabbed the hand before it could reach her forehead and ducked under, moving into Tsunade's guard to push her away. Naome got the breath knocked out of her when Tsunade's other hand came out of nowhere and pushed her away. That was definitely more than one finger.

She coughed as she tried to sit up from the hole in the wall. Ow, it felt like her back was all of one bruise, her chest was sore from the blow, and she couldn't breathe. Breathlessness is the most disturbing thing a person can go through, the sheer desire to breathe and being unable to induces panic. Naome could attest to this theory.

"That was..._cough_ more than one!" She groaned, rubbing her chest and trying to straighten her spine. Going through a wall was apparently painful. She always wanted to know what going through a foot of solid concrete felt like!

"...i take back what i said." The sannin muttered. Naome wanted to argue that she should put more feeling into it, but as she still hadn't caught her breath, she decided to forgoe it and accept this victory with grace.

"Lost the battle, won the war." She murmured, lost the fight, got Tsunade to apologize anyway. Lovely.

"Jiraiya, what are you doing teaching a brat the rasengan. There's no way she'll be able to master it." She felt a little insulted about that. It took the Yondaime three years to make it but less than a week for her to finish two steps!

"Don't underestimate the girl you just lost to." She advised. Technically it was a win, since the goal had only been to get Tsunade to use more than one finger.

"Shut it brat! You got lucky." Naome rolled her eyes in what was meant to be an insulting gesture. Tsunade-baba was just a sore loser.

"Don't poke fun at me lady. To be Hokage, that is my dream!" She declared. Tsunade's eyes widened but other than that she gave no indication she even heard.

"I'll tell you what kid, if you can master the rasengan in one week I'll revise my opinion of you and the Hokages, I'll even throw in this necklace." It didn't look all that special, but judging from the looks of the peanut gallery that little thing was some serious bling.

"If you win?" She questioned. There had to be a downside somewhere. There always is.

"If I win, you have to formally apologize and give me all the money you have." She mentally winced, thinking of the zeroes in her bank account. That was alot of money she was asking for. Money she needed to pay for rent, bills, things for Hikaru and Yurei!

"Make it half, I got alot of money in the bank and it's going to my children." Naome handwaved.

"How much exactly?" Tsunade asked curiously.

"Uhm, somewhere around 500,000 yen." That sounded about right. Somewhere along those lines anyway.

"Holy-! Did your parents leave you a mansion?" Shizune, the name of the Morality Pet lady, gasped.

"Don't know who they are, I made the money through unfortunate circumstances. Anyway I need something to pay the bills and put ramen on the table so half is the best I can do for you." Tsunade agreed and the deal was struck. She had to master the rasengan in one week or kiss all that cash good bye.

They were at the hotel that night when Shizune just happened to be in the neighborhood. She was allowed to enter and since she looked upset, Naome did a fine impression of a hostess and gave her some tea.

"Naome, you can't accept that necklace. It is cursed! Only on Tsunade-sama is it safe!" She went on to tell Tsunade's life story. Losing her little brother in the second war, her lover in the third. About how both wanted to become Hokage, and Tsunade gave them both the necklace just before their deaths. The story of a cursed piece of jewelry.

Naome listened patiently, letting Shizune get it all off her chest. She was Dan's niece and had travelled with Tsunade since just a bit after the third war ended. She even heard about Tsunade's apparently crippling fear of blood. For a medic, this was a pretty bad fall.

She listened, and ultimately dismissed it. She got up and exitted the room, not even answering Shizune's question of where she was going. She needed to train. She made a bet, she'd follow through and keep her word. At the end of a week, they'd find out if the necklace was truly cursed or not.

_Flashback, Tsunade style!_

"Tsunade-sama, do you want to take the tour of the castle? I'll bet it's really interesting!" An enthusiastic Shizune suggested, holding Tonton to her chest.

"I want to get out of here." Tsunade protested. They were on the road leaving the village. She just won at the gambling hall back there and that never boded good.

White pellet like objects brushed past her and her apprentice entered combat with a strange man with white hair. He was sickly, judging from his gaunt expression and haggard over all appearance. He fought using a bone weapon?

"Tsunade-hime, what a pleasure to see you again." She glared at her former teammate. He looked the same as ever, but if rumors were to be believed it wasn't a genjutsu. The things he was up to made her sick.

"Can't say the same to you, Orochimaru." She bit out. He had broken away after she left but she kept up on what her old teammates were up to. Again, he made her sick.

**Another day, another chapter. Gah, I can't believe I procastinated so long and then it came pouring out like a big gaping wound!**

LC; Well, it's done. Enjoy.

Naruto; R We're all too tired from working all night to say anything funny. Just click the blue button at the bottom of the page and type something interesting.


	9. Clinging to Hope

LC; Welcome to another chappy! Enjoy!

Naruto; Now to find out what's going on. You made so many changes the entire anime will be completely different!

Sasuke; Fans won't recognize it as a spoof of the original work. They'll hate it.

LC; Lies! All lies! My fans love me! *Turns to readers* Tell them you love me!

Disclaimer; I do not own Naruto. I do not own this incarnation of awesome. I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 9: One in a Million Odds.

_Tsunade Flashback Continue!_

"What are you doing here with the walking dead man?" She asked curiously. A man in that condition should really be on bedrest. With multiple IV drips, and competent medical staff.

"Well, I was hoping you'd do me a favor." He smirked, holding his hands up in an innocent manner. She scoffed, did he really think she'd do anything for him? She may not be on the best terms with their home village, but she wasn't ready to cut all ties just yet.

"I'm going to count down from five, if you aren't gone by then, I'll kill you." She emphasised by punching the wall behind her. The satisfying sound of rocks crumbling, turning to gravel beneath her hand.

"Five." Neither made a move, just looking at her. One with a cocky smirk, the other in near visible disdain.

"Four." Tsunade idly wondered what afflicted his companion. His heart was racing and he was burning up. No outward signs of injury either.

"Three...Two." Shizune prepared to fight, her senbon shooter primed and dangerous. She knew from experience how potent those poisons she used were. A different poison on each senbon too.

"One." Her KI soared and Shizune was already moving. She would take care of the companion quickly.

"I'm offering to bring back your beloved and little brother! With a jutsu created by your very own great uncle!" Time seemed to freeze and Tsunade was over come by flashbacks of the two most precious people she'd ever had. Nawaki and Dan, both lost to wars where it might have been prevented.

"You haven't killed us yet, and you must have noticed Kimmimaru's condition. Do we have a deal?" The snake crooned, his face contorting prematurely into one of victory.

Shizune looked between her master and the traitor, unsure what to do. How could anyone be brought back from the dead? Was Tsunade-sama actually considering this? She can't be! It was immoral, it was wrong! It was-!

Tempting. Tsunade's expression was stony and she felt herself break a little in remembering those two insanely stupid, reckless, boys. Her poor little brother, pushed into a war he wasn't nearly ready for. Dear, fool hardy, incredibely brave, Dan.

"You are a cruel man, Orochimaru. To have them with me again, to hold them at least once more in my arms." Her voice didn't break, it did not waver. If her throat was a little tight with emotion it was ignored.

"I can bring them back, Tsunade." His reassurances had once calmed her, back when they were just kids in an adult's world, bright and ready for adventures. Before they splintered and cracked. Before everything shattered.

"Tsunade-sama you can't seriously be considering this!" Shizune cried. They wouldn't want this.

"Think about them! How would your brother feel? My uncle?" She stopped when she saw the tears.

"Shizune, stay quiet. Do not presume to tell me what they would have wanted!" Orochimaru's smug face seemed all the worst.

"What makes you think I'll trust you?" She growled at her former teammate. Were bonds really such fragile things? To be cut at a moment's notice, with no regrets.

"Fufufufu," He laughed, bringing a finger to his lips. Tsunade caught the scent of blood and she was shaking.

"To think a medic of your standards would have such a fear, a fear of blood!" The red liquid dripped. It was such a shallow cut, but her own blood froze.

Logically she knew blood didn't kill. It perpetuated life in the body, helped nutrients travel to where it was needed. And still the sight of it chilled her.

"You will have one week to decide Tsunade, oh, and before I forget." He chuckled in a way that wasn't really a chuckle. It was more like a sound of amusement, like she wasn't even worth really laughing at.

"We'll need two sacrifices. Human lives." With that they were gone, and Tsunade felt colder than she had, in a long time.

Shizune looked at her master like it was the first time she'd ever seen her. This Tsunade was one she was unhappily familiar with though. The still shaking, fragile old woman with a gambling addiction and a poor disposition at the best of times. A shadow, no, just a shade, of her former self. The Tsunade Senju who cured Chiyo of Suna's poisons, who was largely credited to Konoha's victory in the Third War thanks to her ideas about Medic nin.

"Come on Tsunade-sama, let's get something to eat."

_End Tsunade's Flashback!_

Naome thrust an unfinished rasengan into a tree, still unable to hold it. When it dispersed there was a spiral mark on the tree, but she knew it could do so much more if she could only hold it!

It was nearing the end of day one and she hadn't made much progress. She could only hold it inside the balloon for a couple seconds before it blew all to Heck. If she wanted to be ready, this would require much more training!

With the unfinished rasengan she made a spiral mark in whatever she used it on, mostly trees. However she knew from Jiraiya that when complete it acted like a drill for however long someone could hold it.

Her right hand was crisscrossed with chakra burns, it stung really bad. Normally she didn't approve of training when injured, but her left hand did just as well as her right. Pretty soon though, it would have the same problem.

She looked stubbornly at her bunshins practicing with balloons. It was amazing how difficult this was! Were all A-rank jutsu this hard to learn? Her most powerful jutsu until now were B-rank, chunin level. How far was the gap in power?

Sasuke had been able to learn Chidori, an A-rank, in one month. She could do the same, better even! She took a deep breath, and began to channel her chakra.

Day two, she could hold it for a total ten seconds inside the balloon. At the end of Day three it jumped to thirty seconds. Day four, no progress. Day five, thirty five seconds.

On Day six, she reached sixty seconds and promptly passed out. Chakra exhaustion, if it weren't for the fox, it would've killed her by now.

Shizune gasped in shock and ran for the unconcious girl. Over working herself was becoming a bad habit. Without her kids around, needing her to be there to make dinner and tuck them in, she never saw a reason to stop before utter exhaustion. It showed.

_With Jiraiya, a small pub._

He had watched Tsunade from a distance for a few minutes, eyeing her alcohol intake, idly wondering where her limit was. It was getting late, only a few stragglers left, she showed no signs of slowing down. He sighed and took a seat beside her.

"What do you want Jiraiya?" She asked, bitterly, cynically. With an air of distaste.

"Can't old friends share a drink every now and again?" He asked, ordering another bottle of rice wine.

"...What did she mean by kids? Is she planning on starting a family?" She asked.

"It's a long story, it started almost two years ago." He told her everything, even her secret missions to gain Orochimaru's trust, he stressed the things she risked in doing what she did. He told her about her reluctance to use the Kyuubi's chakra, he told her nearly everything. Nearly everything.

He couldn't bring himself to tell Tsunade about how the blonde gaki had single handedly raised one baby, snatched herself a boy, and then taken on a second child, without a single complaint. He wouldn't tell how he had watched her roam her house at night when she woke up, restless. He wouldn't tell her about the paintings, about how she couldn't stand being away from her kids. About how despite everything, she was happy.

If Tsunade wanted to know all that, then she'd have to get to know the blonde herself. He couldn't, wouldn't, say things about his apprentice that she wouldn't want said. He didn't have that right.

"You'd make a good kage Tsunade, and sensei is getting too old." He sighed, reaching for his saucer. She was looking at him but he couldn't figure out what she was thinking. He'd never been able to read her. Not even after all these years.

"Tsunade-hime, if you betray Konoha,_ I _will be the one to kill you."

His head felt like there was cotton wedged inside, cacooning his brain, fogging up everything. He had enough time to realize she had spiked his drink before he keeled over.

_The Lotus Hotel, Tsunade and Shizune's room._

"She won't wake up for three days. Oh well, I guess I win." Tsunade declared. Shizune looked at her master in disbelief. Lately it seemed like she didn't even know her master anymore.

"Tsunade-sama, tomorrow is also _that_ day. Please, tell me you aren't going to go!" She pleaded. She would not betray her home, even if it meant leaving Tsunade's service.

She never saw the punch coming. The lights went out and she slumped to the floor. There was no time to even shed a tear at this betrayal. How could she do this?

Tsunade waited at the meeting place, leaning against the wall. Her green jacket flapped in the heavy wind and she took notice when it changed direction. Were the winds changing?

Her eyes slid closed and for a split second she let Nawaki's face overtake her vision. Then she recalled Dan, that far away look in his eyes when he talked about being Hokage. Nawaki's excitement about a new technique. Dan's support of her dream, for a medic on every squad.

Her eyes flashed open when Orochimaru and his friend, Kimmimaru, dropped in front of her. Kimmimaru-san wasn't looking too good, he was unnaturally pale, his skin almost ashy. His cheeks were hollow, definitely below weight. He looked like he was almost at Death's door. It wouldn't take much.

_The Lotus Hotel, Tsunade and Shizune's room._

The Sunlight is what woke her up. She groaned and tried to hide from it's glare, giving up when no corner of her bed seemed free from it's gaze. Her eyes squinted open and she was obviously confused when she realized she wasn't even inside her hotel room. It was a hotel, just not the one she and Jiraiya were checked into.

Shizune was also unconcious on the floor. Seeing that, Naome rushed to her side. The woman seemed alright, and she woke up when prodded.

"Naome! What day is it? What time is it?" She asked, panicked.

"Monday morning." Naome answered, trying to get the dark haired woman to calm down. The pig, Tonton, seemed frantic as well.

"Monday? Are you sure? You were supposed to be out for three days!" She gasped, her mind alight with facts about chakra and the human body. It baffled her logic.

"Well a good night's sleep usually has me right as rain! I'm rearing and ready to go! Where's Tsunade-baba?" A full minute of maintaining the rasengan seemed pretty good. It had been difficult, making the chakra spin in her hand without outside intereference. She managed it though, rather well too.

"You mastered it?" Why was the dark haired lady wasting time? Shouldn't they be looking for someone already? Someone with blonde hair, huge tits, and an age complex the size of the Hokage monument?

"More or less." She shrugged. She really wasn't sure what the critia for mastery was.

"We have to find Tsunade-sama, she's going to make a huge mistake!" Shizune cried, opening the window and preparing to jump out when a kunai thumped into the frame, missing her head by the width of a hair.

"Where is she?" He rasped. Shizune poured some water for him and the white haired sage swallowed it in thanks.

"She slipped me a mickey, I can't even throw straight." Shizune shot him a disbelieving look, her eyes pointedly aimed at the kunai imbeded in the window frame. Naome didn't blame her.

"If she accepts Orochimaru's deal, I will kill her." Naome didn't see anything in his features but his eyes were faded, his wrinkles seemed more pronounced, his hair wasn't as vibrant. He looked his age.

They hopped over houses and buildings, heading for the meeting place, following Tonton. Each one was wrapped up in their thoughts, no one spoke. They already knew what they had to do.

There was a brand new crator in the ground, and Tsunade's green jacket lay abandoned in the dust. None of them could quite say how relieved they were. She had turned them down!

Tsunade meanwhile, was having a little trouble. It was all to easy to draw blood with a sharpened bone and she was feeling a little queasy. She could almost smell it already, the horrible coppery smell that made her want to throw up.

She was left with mostly dodging, waiting for an opening. He was good, she'd admit that much. He slowed a bit, her trick from earlier had crippled him further. The more he tried to fight, the closer to death he became. Just a few more minutes and he would collapse.

He sprang forward, a cry of pain on his lips, coughing up blood. He slashed at her chest. Tsunade had enough sense to move back with the blade, so it was a shallow wound. It bled though, it soiled her clothes with crimson. She couldn't stand.

"I will make your end quick." The boy rasped, his voice dry and forehead sweaty. She couldn't move. His blade came closer.

"Don't touch her!" Naome went in for a full tackle, taking Kimmimaru by surprise and knocking him away from Tsunade. She quickly followed up with a kunai to the shoulder. She remembered from class that a well placed kunai could prevent a shinobi from using his arm.

Which is why she was surprised when that arm swiped at her with a bone sword. She flipped away, landing between him and his target. She eyed the bone weapon and a vision of her daughter flashed through her mind. So this is Yurei's father. Did he know about her?

"How are you still moving that arm?" She asked him suspiciously. It was bleeding, and hard, but his arm was still fully mobile.

"I can manipulate my skeleton." She blinked at that. So rather than the usual manipulation of the muscles, which the nerves she just stabbed should have rendered useless, he was bypassing that to go straight to the bone. Could Yurei do that? With a little more training?

"Impressive, but weird." She admitted. She quickly moved in to draw his fire while Jiraiya went after Orochimaru. Shizune was trying to comfort Tsunade, who looked like she was finally having her mid life crisis.

She ducked and pivoted under his attacks. He was faster than she was but his speed didn't do a whole lot of good if she was so close he couldn't breathe without her feeling it. This close and with that type of weapon he threatened to stab himself.

At least she thought that was the case, up until his entire rib cage burst from his chest, intent on spilling her guts. She jumped away, feeling minor scratches from where she just wasn't fast enough. She was at a comfortable distance now, she needed to think of a way to beat this guy.

She flexed her right hand, could a rasengan drill through those bones? She would need a way to tie up his hands though, otherwise she would be sliced in half.

A plan in mind, she had to move forward and vault over him to avoid his lethal stabs. When she reached the apex of her climb, she carefully tagged him with a super powered shock tag. She needed to make more knock out tags, this was a horrible time to realize she was out.

The super powered shock tags, where normal ones cause a constant stream of pain on the victim, these modified ones paralyzed all muscles. If she revved it up too much, the lung and cardiac muscles would stop working properly.

Kimmimaru cried out in pain, blood flowed from his mouth, he was bleeding inside. He mentally growled. This girl was keeping him from completing the mission Orochimaru-sama gave him. He had to kill the sannin, Tsunade for his master.

He put on another burst of speed, forcing his skeleton to move despite the tearing of his muscles. Before they simply refused to respond, now they were rigid and tore with every move he forced. He ran towards Tsunade, knowing he didn't have much longer to live.

He ran past Naome, pushed aside Shizune, and prepared to bring down his bone sword to finish the job when he hit a snag. Namely, one blonde haired genin grabbing him from behind in a psuedo-hug, shoving something into his stomach. He felt intense pain and tried to hit her, but safely behind his back he couldn't get at a right angle.

He managed to tear himself from her grasp but the damage was done. In doing so he cut across her own stomach, putting her in the same position as him. He clutched at his stomach, his hand the only thing preventing the sloshed remains of his guts from staining the ground. He coughed again, his entire body covered in blood, and fell.

Naome caught her breath and cautiously looked down at herself. Blood poured from her stomach, her hand clenched the wound shut. She couldn't feel any pain, the adrenalin blocked it, but she knew she'd feel it in a second.

She fell backwards and closed her eyes, gasping for air and feeling the first pangs break through. She cried out in pain and groaned, her eyes fluttering. She needed to keep pressure on the wound, try and buy time for the fox to heal her, but her limbs felt like lead.

Suddenly Tsunade was over her, her hands over the wound, glowing with a warm, sea foam green. Naome felt the pain drain away and watched in morbid fascination as new skin began to grow and stretch over the wound.

"You crazy, impulsive, reckless, kid!" Tsunade cursed.

"You aren't shaking." Naome whispered. That was odd. Wasn't Tsunade afraid of blood? She was covered in it now, it would never come out of her clothes.

"Don't forget, our bet." She muttered, her stomach felt numb and she barely registered the blood loss. She was already unconcious.

"...Just one more time, I want to believe it one more time." Tsunade whispered, taking off her necklace and placing it around Naome's neck.

Orochimaru was visibly upset. Jiraiya was clearly lacking, yet he was holding him off. Certainly the toad like man wouldn't be able to keep it forever, but that he could do so when he himself was not inhibited, irked him. Could Jiraiya have grown even stronger? Or had he himself grown soft?

Kimmimaru was dead. His illness and the wound proved it. That the girl had been able to learn the rasengan surprised him, she had great potential. However, she shouldn't have used it against him.

He took Kusanagi into his hand and spared a moment to look at Tsunade, Shizune, and the girl. From this distance he couldn't tell if the girl still lived, but he wasn't taking that chance. She was more trouble than she was worth, it was time he end this. Afterwards, he'd deal with Nina and the jinchuriki spawn.

He sped past Jiraiya, in his state he wasn't able to stop him. The snake slithered to the group of woman, fully expecting to make it past a comatose Tsunade and a pathetic apprentice to kill a blonde deader than dead.

Tsunade's glare caught him by surprise. She wasn't shaking, she wasn't cowering in fear like she'd been doing since their encounter. No, right now she looked calmer than he'd seen her in years. She calmly stood up, between him and his goal, and took his blade straight through her chest.

He was knocked back, feeling the force of her powerful blow and feeling thankful that the pain was diluted since this wasn't his true body. He watched his sword poof away, returning to the summoning realm he called it from. Purple markings covered her entire face, and before his eyes her wound healed.

"A new technique Tsunade-hime? Could you explain it to me, you know I'm always interested in new jutsu." He hissed, watching as she purposely faced him. Blood dripped from her lips, her clothes were stained, but she wasn't trembling. Had she gotten over her fear?

"It's called Creation Rebirth." She smirked, looking for all the world the confiden kunoichi who was credited with their survival through the third shinobi war.

From there it was a battle royal between the three legendary shinobi. Their respective boss summons were called forth, destruction was wrought. Tsunade used Gamabunta's knife to pierce through Manda's mouth, forcing him to return to his realm. From there, she tag teamed with Jiraiya against Orochimaru.

It didn't matter that neither were at full strength, just fighting one sannin would have been hard enough. Orochimaru mentally cursed his luck as he got enough distance to escape. When he was miles away, and knew they weren't following, he roared in outrage.

Shizune was in awe. For the first time since meeting the sannin after the death of her uncle, she saw the war hero in person. It was amazing to see such a change. Looking down at the peacefully sleeping Naome, she couldn't help but marvel at the one responsible for this change in character.

"Hokage huh? Why don't I doubt that?" She muttered, smiling.

They waited for her to wake up, it took one day. In the meantime she and Tsunade-sama inspected the girl's strange healing ability. Personally she thought it was kind of weird that the Kyuubi's only visible ability seemed to be healing, rather than pre-emptively making sure she didn't get hurt.

It seemed that so long as it wasn't immediatly fatal and she was given a chance to rest, Naome would heal on her own. It was amazing, from the standing point of a medic. If they could somehow recreate this and then inject it into regular shinobi, death rates would fall drastically!

Naome had a headache, which was the first thing she realized upon waking up. The second thing was that she needed a bath, badly. The third was that she should kill Jiraiya.

Why the last one? Well, waking up to see him looking at her chest with a calculating gaze was probably a big deciding factor.

"Ero-sensei!" She screamed, her fist firmly planted in his right cheek.

"It's not what you think!" He cried ineffectively.

"You asked for it Jiraiya, you old lech." Tsunade sighed, coming in through the door.

"I was just doing the girl a favor by measuring her breast size." Naome dug a kunai out of her pouch and looked pointedly at him in warning. He laughed awkwardly before turning away so she could properly dress. She was only wearing bandages on her upper torso.

"Stupid old peadophile." She muttered, pulling a shirt over her head. The choked protest was music to her ears.

"Sooo~...Judging from the necklace, I won. Does that mean Tsunade-baba's gonna be hokage?" Before Tsunade could kill her over the nickname Shizune quickly answered that they did intend to return to Konoha. Good, because otherwise Naome would've been pissed. She wanted to go home and see her babies!

She inspected her new jewelry when they began the walk home. It was actually pretty small, and the string worn and thin, it would cut easy in a bad fight. She'd replace it later, for now she used the calm walk back to Konoha to make a list of things she needed to do. Her list of mental notes was all too easy to misplace after all.

_Naome's To-Do list!_

_1: Further research into Interrogation and information gathering._

_2: Buy Weights for arms, legs, and torso. Preferably gravity seals._

_3: Continue study of Fuinjutsu, maybe something like the Yin Seal Tsunade has for Creation Rebirth._

_4: Look into training a fire affinity._

_5: Set up Emergency Trust Fund for Yurei-chan, I've put that off for too long._

_6: Have Zoro gather some defensive jutsu? Some Non-lethal capture jutsu? _

_7: Consider a change in wardrobe? Maybe something with lots of pockets for hiding weapons._

_8: Train in Genjutsu, sensing and dispelling. Pretty big weakness there!_

_9: Look more into First Aid. _

It was a start at least. For now she should just work on those areas. Especially the big ones about her weaknesses. It would suck for some enemy nin to sniff them out and use them against her.

The Sun glinted off the sea foam surface of the crystal and she felt strangely at peace to have it around her neck. She finished the list and surveyed her travelling companions. Jiraiya was grinning like a loon, his eyes lower than strictly polite while Tsunade walked in front of him. Shizune carried Tonton and seemed to be day dreaming about something. Tsunade herself walked forward without looking back.

Tsunade was famous, she had logically knew it, after all she read about her in history books. It was just a healthy reminder when shinobi kept stopping to gawk on their walk to the hospital. There was Kakashi-sensei to heal up, possible Sasuke if he was still here, and she also had her mind on Lee.

As such, she had happily convinced the slug sannin to heal her friends. The ones who'd been hurt and were languishing in the hospital at the moment. They could afford to go to the tower later on.

Anko was sitting beside Kakashi when they arrived. Naome kicked herself for forgetting her nee-chan. Newly married of course she'd be incredibly worried when he was in a comatose state! She gave the toku-jounin a hug while Tsunade healed Kakashi, trying to apologize without saying anything at all.

"Naome-chan you really are a miracle worker." Anko chuckled, maybe a little bitterly. She was 18 weeks along now, showing off her baby bump. When Kakashi started to wake up she moved right beside him, already talking to him.

Naome gave a small smile and turned away, leaving the newly weds alone for now. She'd have to catch up with Anko later, invite her out for dango or ice cream, the violet haired woman's craving.

Tsunade watched Naome back away with an unreadable look. She knew that Naome was a single mother of two, one adopted, but she hadn't given much thought to the girl's emotional state because of that. It couldn't have been easy, ten and pregnant while hiding it in the academy.

"Come on Tsunade-baba, you still have someone else to heal!" She might be able to grounge up more sympathy for the girl if not for that nickname. Whatever happened to sama?

Naome didn't actually stay to show her where Lee was. Gai was apparently anxiously awaiting their arrival and swept the next Hokage away before she could get a word in edgewise. As it was, she didn't really mind. She had two kids to pick up and a Hokage to report to!

"Kaa-chan!" Came two voices. As soon as she stepped into Sarutobi's office she was assaulted by two little blurs that came flying out of nowhere. She was caught by surprise and fell down, happily accepting their tackle hug, returning it ten fold.

"How's my big boy and girl? Were you two good for Hokage-sama?" She asked them teasingly.

"Hai!" Came Yurei-chan's answer. Naome took a moment to marvel at the fact she appeared to be outgrowing the sundress Naome bought her when she first arrived. She was at least three inches taller now. Hikaru's shirt was also a bit small.

Hikaru's bangs needed to be cut, he was also getting a bit of a rat tail on the back. She needed to schedule a dentist visit for the both of them, and check ups. Especially Yurei-chan. Even if Orochimaru said she hadn't inherited the family disease she wanted to make sure.

"I take it your mission was a success?" Hiruzen chuckled, watching the small family on the floor. Shikamaru had been by a couple times, growing more comfortable after the first visit. The lad was earnest in his care for the children, and in his care for Naome.

"Yep, we brought Tsunade-sama back! I even won this necklace off her!" She said, showing off the Shodaime's crystal. Worth two gold mines and the mountains on top of them. She could retire in the bahamas!

"I suspect your mission report will be very entertaining to read. I'll put the mission funds into your account. In the meantime there's a meeting for all the genin who participated in the exams tomorrow, be sure to attend." She nodded. So they were finally announcing who had become a chunin? For all the work she did she deserved a vest at the very least. Heck they should just scrap chunin and make her a jounin! Maybe even ANBU!

She didn't go straight home, no matter how nice it would be to just curl upp on the couch and relax. Instead she went off in search of Shika-kun. It might be because every other time she ever came to team ten's training ground, they weren't doing anything, but she was truly and honestly surprised to find them sparring when she arrived.

She sat with Yurei and Hikaru in a tree nearby, across from Asuma-sensei who was doing the same, and watched the carnage.

It was a surprisingly brutal match. Apparently Ino had learned a new family jutsu and they were trying to help her get faster in using it. She wasn't sure what it did, since mind techniques were invisible, but Ino didn't collapse every time she tried it, which was weird. She thought Yamanakas did that after every jutsu.

Finally Chouji stumbled and froze, caught in whatever jutsu Ino was practicing. Immediatly Naome could tell a difference. Chouji's body looked terribly confused and his movements were all stilted, like suddenly he didn't know how to use his arms and legs anymore.

"I finally did it! Ha, caught you!" Ino boasted happily, panting from exertion and sweating far more than she really should. She hadn't even moved around that much. Either that technique was chakra extensive, unlikely, or she didn't have very much stamina.

"What did you do?" Naome asked curiously, drawing attention to her perch. Shikamaru smirked lazily up at her, nodding in greeting. She grinned down at him but looked back at Ino, who was ready to explain.

"It's called Dokushin jutsu! It's a mind reading jutsu!" Ino's original technique was Mind Body Switch, she took over her opponent's body. However with this one, she instead gained whatever knowledge she wanted from the opponent. It was very useful for interrogation, since it was difficult if not outright impossible to defend against. Especially since this one didn't leave her totally helpless, as it didn't involve removing her mind from her body, just downloading new information into it.

"Sugoi!" Hikaru cried happily, not completely understanding but knowing that it was cool.

"So why are you guys only now training? Every other time I've come by you're all sitting around." She asked.

"It's troublesome, but Asuma-sensei said we have to train even more for the next chunin exam." Shikamaru answered, sitting down and taking Yurei into his lap, absently combing his fingers through her loose hair.

"Huh, well on a totally unrelated note, I just came back from a mission to bring the Godaime back! It's gonna be Tsunade Senju!" She reported happily.

"A new Hokage? Troublesome." He sighed. Change was always troublesome, it's just that some changes were less troublesome than others.

"I think she'll do fine, so long as no one lets her gamble away the treasury." Naome amended. Maybe it seemed odd to accept a leader with such obvious flaws, but in their world it was reassuring. Tsunade's gambling and drinking were her coping mechanisms, it was the shinobi without any outward quirk that people were hesitant around. These were unstable ones.

"Anyway, you'll never believe what happened while I was getting her!" She said excitedly, thinking of telling him all about the fight with Orochimaru and Kimmimaru. Of course, she'd edit it so that it didn't sound too bad for her kids, and neglect mentioning that Kimmimaru was Yurei-chan's father.

That night, after supper she was giving Yurei and Hikaru a bath. Hikaru was sitting on the toilet now, wrapped in a towel with his red bangs shadowing his eyes whenever he yawned. Naome washed Yurei-chan's snow white hair, getting out the dirt and grime of the day and being careful not to get the soap in her eyes.

"Kaa-chan, when do I get to become a kunoichi too?" She asked after rinsing.

"I'll sign you up for the academy when you turn seven." Naome answered, pulling the small girl out to dry her with the towel.

"...I was born November Tenth, then I'll be six!" Naome smiled and nodded, running the towel roughly through her hair to get it dry.

She put Hikaru to bed at eight thirty, but Yurei had earned the right to stay up until nine. Naome had never had bedtimes before, when it was just her in an old, dingy apartment. Being a responsible parent was still a little new to her, and sometimes she made mistakes.

She sat on the bed next to Yurei, inside the princess canopy, reading Konoha's number one story book. It had stories of their best shinobi and their deeds, cutting out all the ugly parts to make it into a bedtime story for little kids.

"And the Yellow Flash stopped the war, saving everyone, the end." She finished, closing the book and watching Yurei curl up under the covers.

"I wanna learn how to read." Yurei sighed before falling asleep. Naome made a mental note to start on that, since Yurei was the right age anyway.

Naome sighed before getting up and heading to her bedroom. Inside she uncovered her easel and got to work on the wedding painting she hadn't gotten around to starting. Soon Anko and Kakashi were directly in the middle, viewed from the side a bit so the shadows played on Anko's kimono.

There was Hokage-jiji, smiling a little sadly as he tied the knot. She defined each of his wrinkles, making up a story for each one. This one he got when his first son died, this one he got when a shinobi didn't come back. She made the light glint off of Shikamaru's headband, which was around his neck in respect of the formal occasion.

She even put in Danzo, standing off in one corner of the hall but not looking at the love birds at all. He was looking at Hokage-jiji with his one eye, the other covered by bandages stained a light red.

She finished late that night and left it to dry while she slept. She had a meeting tomorrow, and so many things to do. She'd have to make a few bunshins. She'd buy the weights and start the trust fund, maybe send Zoro to the library for a scroll on advanced interrogation and beginner's genjutsu.

Morning came all too soon and she whipped up breakfast for her kids, already up and running. Naome wondered if she should start buying coffee or something, since she was always tired in the mornings.

The meeting wasn't until one, so she decided to take care of all her other business. She decided to take Yurei and Hikaru as well, since they would need to learn their way around the village. First they went to the bank, so she could take out some money and add Yurei's trust fund. Hikaru already had one, she had made it before even giving birth.

Yurei made sure Hikaru didn't wander off while she filled out the paperwork, filling in things like age and status. It would have to be updated when she started the academy, and then again when she graduated and became a genin.

"Thank you for your cooperation." An elderly shinobi thanked her, accepting the papers and filing them away. With all that done she took out some of her savings, filling Gama-chan back up to the breaking point. It was time for some shopping.

Hikaru was riding on her back while they walked to the shinobi district. Here is where everything shinobi related was sold. Everything from weapons, to foreign kits, to the latest issue of the bingo book was sold on this street. Naome went straight to a weapon's shop.

"Yurei, don't touch anything." She warned her daughter. Normally kids weren't allowed in here, so all the weaponry was out where little hands could reach. Yurei nodded in understanding but looked at everything, her eyes gleaming.

Naome got the weights she needed and bought a bokken, a wooden sword, on impulse for Yurei-chan. From what she saw of Kimmimaru, the Kaguya clan were pretty damn good kenjutsu users, so the bokken would be good for practice until she was good enough to draw out an entire bone sword.

A retired shinobi rung up her purchase and she left the shop feeling pretty good. Two things off her to-do list and it wasn't even lunch time! Yurei was happily swinging her bokken around, although being very careful not to hit anyone they passed by. Naome would need to look at those clan scrolls Mizuki gave her when he dropped off Yurei.

They decided to go to the park, since it had been a while and they wanted to play. Naome sat on a bench and watched Yurei cautiously walk up to a group of kids near her age. It looked like they were playing ninja.

Soon enough Yurei was laughing and running off to hide. Naome hoped they didn't go too far, since she wasn't sure yet if Yurei could find her way home on her own yet. Hikaru was happy to play in the sand though, building a little castle and using a stick as a sword to defend it against enemy nin.

In half an hour all the kids playing with Yurei were back, and now she was on the team trying to find everyone. She was smiling and laughing, waving at Naome whenever she ran by. Naome made sure to wave back but didn't do anything that might hurt Yurei's chance at a friend.

"How have you been doing Naome?" She eeped and found Haku and Hana standing beside her. She made room on the bench.

"Haku! Hana-san! I'm well thanks for asking. You?" She inquired politely.

"It takes some getting used to, being on the new Momochi compound." Yeah, Haku took on Zabuza's last name to represent his connection to the man who had raised him.

The three Haimaru triplets played a bit with Hikaru, pretending to be the enemy nin he had to beat back from destroying his castle. The three sat in silence, listening to kids laughing and dogs barking. It was peaceful, it was a beautiful kind of day.

"Naome-san, could I ask you a favor?" Haku suddenly spoke up. Naome gave him her attention, looking away from where she could just see Yurei climbing up a tree for her turn to hide.

"When my children are born, would you be the God mother?" Hana twitched and her hand wandered to her stomach, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"Are you sure? It's such a big honor." She stammered. Hana watched Haku, her husband and the father of her pup, talk to a genin girl that she barely knew. She had given her title as heir to Kiba, because she didn't want to end up like her mom and have to be responsible for an entire clan.

She agreed to marry Haku after going on a couple dates with him. He was kind and considerate, not pressuring her into anything. He liked the dogs and he had accepted the conditions of the marriage without any fuss. He was a good guy, and the other wives were bearable, if not overly friendly.

Shiho was in the Cryptanalysis division of Intelligence, a good kunoichi and very loyal. Twins apparently ran in her family, and she was expecting two. Hana could see herself becoming close friends with Shiho, especially after the pups were born.

Hisoka was the third wife, and the lowest ranked in the household. She was somehow related to the Haruno family, and a civilian. She had no idea what she had signed up for and Hana just prayed the pup was a boy so he wouldn't inherit her attitude. Although she was the third wife and a civilian, she was haughty and didn't help with the housework.

Eventually Naome Uzumaki agreed to be named God mother for all four pups and they got up to leave. Naome had a meeting about the chunin promotions, and Hana herself had an appointment with a doctor.

"Why did you choose her? She's so young." Hana asked Haku when they were out of ear shot and on their way.

"Naome-san already has a son, the boy the triplets were playing with. She also adopted a young girl. I've watched her take care of them and I know she would take care of our children as well as her own." She hadn't known that. She looked over her shoulder where Naome was calling to a little girl with white hair, and picking up the boy with red bangs and blonde hair.

"She loves them very much and I know she would do anything to protect them." Haku finished, smiling knowingly when he saw Hana looking back.

Hana decided that having Naome as the God Mother wouldn't be a bad thing when she saw her swing her son into the air, while her daughter swung a bokken. They were a good family, and whatever her circumstances were, she didn't smell like a fox.

Yurei didn't want to leave yet, she wanted to stay with her new friends to play. Naome sighed but decided that she could just leave a bunshin at the park to take Yurei home later. With that decided she also left Hikaru to play in the sand. Another bunshin took her purchase back home and to do some other errands, like getting rent from the people in the apartment she still owned.

Meanwhile the Original went to her meeting with the rest of the genin. Everyone from Neji to Sasuke was there, teams seven through ten present and accounted for. Naome was actually the last to arrive, although she was right on time.

"Alright then, we're here today to discuss the results of the third test of the chunin exams." Hokage-jiji announced, looking over the potential candidates. Tsunade-baba was also there, sitting beside him and smiling faintly, although she refused to make eye contact.

"Due to circumstances, we didn't get to watch every match, but I believe there are at least two genin who deserve the promotion." Naome felt nervous, though she had no idea why. She was practically garunteed that promotion!

"The first is Shikamaru Nara, for excellent battle tactics on the field against Temari of Suna." She clapped louder than anyone else and grinned at her boyfriend, who smirked as usual and accepted the vest and chunin tanto.

"Next is Naome Uzumaki, for services above and beyond what a genin would be asked to do and for showing great knowledge of tactics and jutsu in her match against Neji Hyuuga of Konoha." She felt her grin spread until it threatened to split her face as she accepted the vest and tanto, practically bouncing in her excitement.

She saw Shikamaru smile at her and nod, he was already wearing his vest. Sakura congratulated her and Sasuke nodded his respect. She had done what she always said she would, she had surpassed him. Kakashi nodded at her, eye smiling in pride.

"Would everyone else leave so I can give the new chunin their new posts?" It was a bittersweet feeling as the teams began leaving. Did this mean no more meeting up for training with team seven?

"Being chunin is a big responsibility, and includes several new duties you are expected to perform." He lectured them, two scrolls lie on his desk. One was brown and the other was grey.

"Shikamaru Nara, you are being assigned to Border Patrol, squad D, until further notice. This means doing the majority of the C-ranks that come through the tower and keeping the peace along our borders." Shikamaru accepted the brown scroll. Naome didn't need him to voice it to know how troublesome this was to him. Border Patrol meant alot of running around, something she knew he hated.

"Naome Uzumaki." She stood to attention. This time it was Tsunade who spoke.

"I don't completely agree with this but you have been placed in T&I under direct control of Ibiki Morino. This means learning the arts of information gathering via torture, investigation, and as a kunoichi, _seduction_."

Naome accepted the grey scroll, thinking hard on that last one. It was unlikely she'd actually be sent on a mission requiring no clothes and a bed, since she was already a mother, so she wasn't too worried about that. Besides, the prospect of continuing her studies of interrogation certainly interested her.

"You two are now chunin, the main fighting force of our village. You will be asked to take on C and B-rank missions to that affect, to use every weapon in your aresenal to protect the walls surrounding us." Hiruzen explained, catching their attention although nothing he said really stood out. Listening to him go on to explain both the merits and the down fall of chunin level shinobi, Naome started to wonder why she wanted the promotion so badly.

The future looked promising, but oh so terrifying at the same time. If there was a war, they would be among the first sent out to fight. They were in charge of basic security, their priority was protection. Protecting clients on C-ranks, protecting the borders, protecting their civilians. A chunin was expendable. A chunin was cannon fodder.

"Report immediatly to your new platoon leaders and make our village proud as it's representatives." He finished, dismissing them. For her record, Naome managed to wait until the door closed to tackle hug Shika-kun.

"We're chunin!" She squealed, her vest was unzipped and flapped a bit in the breeze. It had all sorts of pockets too, for all sorts of things! She counted at least twelve fully visible pockets!

"We have to celebrate!" She decided, pulling him out of the tower to meet their respective teams.

"To Ichiraku!" She declared, already happily tugging Shika along.

"Troublesome girl, we have to report to our commanders _now._" Shikamaru pointed out, ruining her good mood. No ramen!

"Fine, but we're going to Ichiraku's later!" She swore, by rain and by thunder she would have her miso!

She remembered the T&I headquarters from her pranking days. She once painted a beautiful satire of Konoha shinobi pulling foreign shinobi in to their doom. It had been a moving piece, one of her best, if she said so herself.

One wouldn't know such a thing ever adorned those walls now. They were painted a boring egg shell, just like the rest of the buildings on the street. If she didn't already know that this was the place, she'd never suspect it.

She had read the scroll given to her, which was orders to report directly to Ibiki and information such as business hours and helpful suggestions. Among the suggestions was a useful one for three spare changes of uniform, which would be handed to her upon entering. Another suggestion was copious amounts of shinobi soap.

She wondered what exactly she was signing up for when she pushed open the door.

The inside itself was boring as well, at least the registration room was anyway. There were two desks, one with a sign saying Check In and the other saying Check Out. At both were two shinobi wearing grey button ups with matching full length pants. The basic uniform, from the looks of things.

"Excuse me, I've been assigned under Ibiki Morino-san." She said to the check in desk, showing him the scroll.

"Go down the steps and take the direct right, he's at the end of the hall." The nameless chunin informed her. She thanked him and entered the door, heading down a steep flight of stairs.

She reached a circular room with several different hallways, branching off to just about anywhere. She had a feeling she'd get lost alot here and made a mental note to explore using bunshins.

She took the furthest right path and walked down a hall littered with other doors. These doors all had a different plaque on them, with names of different higher ranking shinobi who worked here. When she reached Ibiki Morino's door she raised a hand and knocked.

"Enter!" Came a gruff voice. She took a deep breath and opened it slowly, poking her head in cautiously. Ibiki was sitting at his desk and looking at a file. Her picture was clipped to it and she could guess that he was looking at her ANBU file. She wondered if they had updated that.

"Naome Uzumaki, welcome to T&I." She flashed him a confident smile, more out of habit of meeting new authority figures then because she was confident in her abilities.

"So Ibiki-san, what should I be doing now?" She asked curiously, taking the liberty to walk on in and lean against the desk. From this angle she could read the file and made no attempt to hide what she was doing as she read what she guessed was her Official File.

ANBU files held basic facts, things like age, gender, status, and important notes. There was an ANBU file on everyone in the village, from new borns to the elderly, shinobi or civilian. Official Files were for the shinobi, and far more detailed.

This file was alot thicker than the ANBU file had been. It had a couple pictures of what she looked like at different ages, pictures of her kids, a picture of Shikamaru (Ahem). There was intensive information about her personal life and ninja who she had connections with, reports from past missions, and what looked like a grocery list she threw out last week.

"...Should I ask why there's a receipt for my tampons in here?" She asked a little nervously. The level of information was a little disturbing.

"Lie to me." She looked up at Ibiki in surprise, wondering if he really said what she thought he had just said.

"Bubblegum turns my tongue blue!" She said on impulse. He blinked, slowly and with purpose. She had to remind herself not to fidget even as her head tipped to one side and a challenging smirk made itself comfortable on her face.

"Again." Came the order.

"Our Yondaime was a woman." She shot off.

"Again." He demanded, this time leaning forward, giving her his undivided attention.

"Wood chucks scare me!" She whispered, conspiringly.

"Again." Said the scarred man.

"The sky is red when it rains!" She replied.

"Again." He gave the order while starting a pot of coffee that sat behind and a bit to the side of the desk.

"I'm a cross dresser!" She was having fun with this. Was there some kind of point to this or just a random game?

"Topic: Personal Secrets." She didn't miss a beat.

"My hair's the flavor of a rainbow!" She giggled.

"Continue." He said, waiting for the coffee to finish heating.

"I miss Orochi-chan! Foxes are my favorite animal! Toads are secretly ugly frogs! I abducted Hikaru from the Hyuuga! I pick my nose when no one looks! I hate every living thing! I plan to destroy all ramen noodles!" She stopped to take a breath.

"Enough." Ibiki motioned for her to sit down while he poured them both some coffee. Naome took a healthy amount of milk and cream into her's before taking a sip. She decided she liked coffee.

"You are pretty good at lying. How good are you at detecting them?" He asked her after taking a long drink of his black coffee. Black as his soul!

"Lie to me." She watched his eyes flicker in obvious amusement.

"I hate my life." She gave him a thumbs down.

"I despise kids." Another thumbs down, this one a little more hesitant.

"Not bad." He congratulated her after another five minutes of reverse twenty questions.

"You have talent and good instinct. You got twenty out of fifty, which is better than what most give me." She grinned again, a look that clearly said You-Know-You-Love-Me.

"Most of what you'll be doing here at first is mastering the art of lying. After that we'll work more on detecting lies. Then we'll let you in to watch a few interrogations and tortures depending on your stomach." He went on to explain that she wasn't expected to do this all day every day. She would have work hours, which happened to be from nine until five with a lunch break at one for thirty minutes. When on duty she would wear the uniform unless otherwise instructed and run errands for him around the building and village between her 'lessons'.

"I don't want to hear a single complaint from you. I don't want to hear 'I can't' pass your lips. While you work under me you will remain professional and always address me as Morino-san. Wear the uniform. Do not tell anyone what goes on inside this building. Do not touch any files. Do not touch anything that I leave out. Follow these rules and both our lives will be infinitely easier." She nodded in understanding, accepting the uniform and it's copies that she was handed. Wearing these was not going to be fun. They were ugly and looked very uncomfortable and too warm for this climate!

"Go change and we'll get started right away. Back down the hall to the second left, the showers should be empty now but if not then I don't care." She nodded and jogged off, eager not to make any enemies on her first day.

She found the showers with minimal trouble and found two shinobi washing away blood. One of them was a prisoner and could barely stand. She mentally shuddered and drew a curtain around her so she could change without anyone staring.

It was too big on her. It was at least three sizes too big in the chest and torso, it reached half way down her thigh! The pants were baggy and she had to use her on duty pouch as a belt to hold them up. With that done she rolled up the sleeves to her biceps and used two hair clips to keep them in place. After that though, she had to fix her hair.

She sighed as she turned her Hitai-ate into a choker and used a bandage as a hairband to keep her bangs out of her face. A tuft of hair escaped the band and landed between her eyes but she ignored it in favor of using another bandage to tie her hair up in a bun.

Eventually she used another bandage to tie the button up closer to her chest, so it didn't feel so much like she was wearing a sack. With this it looked very much like an ugly dress in the way it suddenly seemed form fitting. With that she tied up the ends of the pants and declared herself ready. She sealed her normal clothes and the uniform copies in a scroll and headed back to Ibiki.

"That was the smallest size we had but you seem to have made due. Memorize this." He tossed an over sized tome at her that nearly made her buckle from the weight. It was massive! Advanced Interrogation: How to Lie?

She sat down, making herself comfortable in one of the hard armchairs in the corner. She opened the book and took a quick peek at the index. Chapter one was labeled Classifications and The Counter Measures of Lies. Oh yeah, this was going to be fun.

Naome wondered if she'd get in trouble for sending a bunshin here instead of coming herself. She then decided she didn't want to risk him finding out and punishing her. If this was the lesson, she was afraid to find out what his idea of detention was.

It was actually an interesting read. She ended up taking out a note book from her scroll to take notes. It was alot more in depth than the beginner's books she'd gotten at the library. The four classifications of lies were white, grey, red, and black. White lies benefited the other person while we lost out. Grey lies benefited both parties. Red lies benefited no one. Black lies purely benefit ourselves and hurt whoever we lie to.

She read about list of things Liars did to avoid detection. She loved the idea of False Replays, which was repeating the story but with a few elements misplaced to see if the original person would catch on or not. If they did and corrected the mistakes, it was usually a good sign that they were telling the truth!

The book emphasised that none of these methods were full proof though. One could tell a lie and still get caught. One could hear a lie and still not catch it. It was all about a good bit of observation and instincts.

"Tomorrow you will use what I've given you to lie to me about the personal aspects of your life. Parts that enemy nin could use against you." He told her at the end of the day. She nodded and walked back to the showers to change. The Uniform was uncomfortable, just as she first thought!

She met up with Shikamaru and their teams before finally heading to Ichirakus! She happily downed five bowls without coming up for air.

"So how does working with Ibiki sound?" Kakashi asked when she finally stopped long enough to breathe.

"It sounds like alot of reading so far. I didn't know there were so many rules about lying!" It was a little intimidating. So many rules and classifications to memorize, so little enjoyment.

"Well since you have nine to five hours team training will have to settle for early mornings and late afternoons." Asuma reminded them. Shikamaru would also have the same hours as she did. Although all he had to do was sit at the gate and make sure everyone who came and left had the proper paperwork.

"Troublesome, I have to get up early?" Shikamaru groaned.

"On the bright side, chunin get more days off." Naome pointed out, pointing to a section in her scroll that listed what days she had off. Shikamaru took out his scroll and found that he had different days. Troublesome.

Shikamaru came home with her, both eager to enjoy the rest of the day spending it like a family, with every member. They played in the backyard, and Shikamaru didn't say troublesome at all! Not a single complaint!

"Kaa-chan, what's a chunin?" Yurei asked after they sat on the grass, completely wore out.

"Well Yurei-chan, a chunin is a kind of shinobi. First is Academy student, then genin, then chunin, then jounin, then ANBU, and then kage." Naome explained, she was sitting with Shikamaru's head in her lap and his hair tie on the ground, toying with his hair.

"I thought Kaa-chan was strongest." Hikaru pouted, like this new information didn't fit into his picture of the world.

"Not yet Hikaru-chan, not yet."

_Sasuke's POV, Uchiha Training Ground._

He was panting, trying to catch his breath. Dodging the swipes of two cat summons and had been doing it for nearly an hour. Kirara was a tabby, and the size of a small bear. Chiaka has a tiger print but with dark blue paws and ears. He was the one Sasuke was having the most trouble with.

He'd been trying to work on his teamwork with the summons since the Forest of Death, against those Snakes. The cats were primarily genjutsu users, able to weave illusions so well a man wouldn't get out for a day and a half.

"Faster Suke-kun! Faster!" Kirara hissed, her claws taking a chunk out of his pant leg when he jumped upwards to avoid it.

He didn't say anything, to distracted by having to backpedal away from Chiaka before becoming a scratching post. Training with these two is always rough, especially as it means I am already low on chakra when we start, having summoned both of them.

At first I could barely last ten minutes after summoning both of them, now lasting an hour was almost easy. Soon he'd get strong enough to add a third summon, probably Tsuna, who actually specialized in lightning ninjutsu, which he had an affinity for.

He was getting stronger, and soon he'd catch up to _Him._ Naome was already a chunin, and normally he'd be upset for being passed over for her. He could hardly complain though, since he hadn't shown any planning during his battle. What sort of planning one can do against that Gaara guy though, he didn't know. If he'd gotten the chance to fight Naome he might have given a better showing, but as it were he'd just have to wait six months for the next exam.

Shikamaru had officially claimed Naome, not that he particularly minded. Beyond idle musings he just couldn't see himself with her. She was everything he was not, and she was already a single mother.

Sakura had the potential to shape up, but she had lost alot of time. She was still annoying, and she was still a fangirl.

_Sakura's POV, Konoha Hospital._

She worked as a volunteer at the hospital whenever she had free time. In her trainee smock she did errands for the certified nurses, things like changing beds and getting medicine from the supply closets. Just yesterday Kana-san said if she kept up the good work she'd be allowed to work with the children patients, doing things like reading them stories and giving them their medicine.

The Medic Nin program was very study intensive and she thrived off of it. She could use the Mystical Palm technique fairly well now and could heal basic cuts and scrapes. She was working on mending broken bones now but she didn't have a whole lot of time to practice, what with her work and studying and regular team training.

She huffed in annoyance when her hair fell in front of her eyes again. Long hair might be elegant but it was so bothersome! With all the running around she did now her hair kept getting free of the hair tie!

After work she was walking home, more than a little sore and suddenly hating herself a little for wearing the stupid dress she was wearing. It was thick and kept getting in the way. It was too tight for her to be able to move around, which was especially annoying when one had to run up and down stairs delivering medicine and blankets in a hospital.

She was enjoying the benefits of being a kunoichi who didn't have to pay bills though, thanks to her parents. She paused by a clothes shop, her inner Sakura arguing relentlessly that she didn't need new clothes, the ones she had were beautiful and sexy!

Sakura sighed and continued walking, when another sign caught her attention. This one for a barber shop, giving discount hair cuts to shinobi. The argument started, the biggest point being the rumor about Sasuke liking short hair.

This time though, she won out. She shifted the books in her arms and opened the door, the bell hung above ringing her arrival.

"Greetings kunoichi-san, can I interest you in a hair cut?" The elderly man asked politely, gesturing to a chair.

"Yes please." She undid her braid and picked up a magazine for short cuts. She pointed to a cute bob and leaned back while he did his thing. She needed to make a change, may as well start small.

"Sakura-chan!" Her mother cried in alarm upon seeing her hair. Her mother had mid length hair, straight as an iron board and a duller pink than Sakura's own.

"It's just a hair cut kaa-san." She placated.

"Oh, your beautiful hair! What boy will want to marry a girl with such short hair!" Her mother bemoaned, inconsolable.

"Kaa-san, my hair kept getting in the way." She tried to explain.

"Sakura what is your mother crying about?" Her father asked, entering the living room from the kitchen.

"Dear kami, Sakura why did you cut your hair!" He demanded, where her mother was upset, he got angry.

"It kept getting in the way so I had it cut." She sighed, it was tiring to say the same thing over and over again.

"Sakura, we know being a ninja is important to you, and we certainly don't mind you becoming a doctor, but doing such things to yourself without telling us first is not permitted." He said sternly, frowning in displeasure but obviously confused.

"What do you have to say for yourself young lady?" He finished, putting on his best defeated look to guilt trip her. Sakura was startled to find that she even noticed. Why was he so angry? It was just hair!

"I'm sorry." She was lying. She could count the number of times she had lied, and been caught, to her parents on one hand.

"We'll forgive you this one time but don't do it again." Her father nodded, apparently satisfied. Sakura held her books closer to her chest and forced the feelings of anger down, she imagined a well within her mind in which she pushed everything that she didn't want to think about.

She went up to her room and locked the door. She looked around, taking in the full length mirror, the pink wall paper and bedding, the flower on her window sill, and the picture of team seven on her nightstand.

Under the surface were the kunai and shuriken waiting to be sharpened on her desk, the scrolls with genjutsu theory lying open on the floor. Her book shelf had books filled with books and scrolls on medic jutsu and things from the academy. There was a pack of ration bars waiting to be packed into her travel bag, needle and thread to repair her clothes when they were ripped.

She sighed and set her books down next to the team photo. She had a list of things she needed to study up on before going to bed. She absently stretched her arm and marveled at how different it seemed than the arm in the picture. In the picture, the arm was smooth, without any lines that marked muscles like on Naome's arm.

Now though her arms were stronger, thicker in places where the muscle had been excercised by carrying things. Her legs were more sculpted too, with her thighs being thicker from running up and down stairs. She walked over to the mirror and inspected herself.

She liked her hair short, her hitai-ate still worn like a hairband and her bangs framing her forehead. Like how Ino taught her years ago. She'd lost some baby fat on her cheeks, she was a bit thicker in the abdomen, where muscles had developed. It wasn't the feminine figure she had always imaginned, she'd gained weight from not staying on her diet.

"So this is me, Sakura Haruno." She felt like she was meeting herself for the first time. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine her life if she'd been faced with Naome's challenges.

She would have buckled under the pressure. Naome, at ten, did what fully grown women struggle with, and without even one complaint. She was raising two kids when she was still a kid herself!

No, not a kid. Sakura felt a little ashamed by it but Naome was most definitely not a kid anymore. Naome was strong, getting stronger, firm in her beliefs, and unwavering. Naome was everything Sakura dreamed to be. Not because she was a picture perfect kunoichi, not because she could defeat an enemy single handed and raise a baby.

Naome was everything she dared to dream for because she was happy. She was happy and proud of her son, loving towards her adopted daughter, she smiled and laughed when plenty others would have cried. Naome was happy.

Sakura looked around her room, the well of her mind was over flowing and she was unsure about this world that kept changing just when she got used to how things were. Because it forced her to remember, that despite being the second best kunoichi, being on a team with Sasuke-kun, and even rebuilding her friendship with Ino, she wasn't happy.

Sakura frowned now, and the face in the mirror was foreign again. That was a reflection of a true kunoichi, one who didn't let the world change under her because she was changing with the world! This kunoichi hadn't been forged of fire, she hadn't grown from a rock in the middle of a desert. This kunoichi grew from the fertile soil of Konohagakure, this kunoichi was one who trained not to kill but to heal. This kunoichi had it easy, and this kunoichi was content.

Sakura nodded, like she had decided something but didn't know what or what would happen as a result of such a decision. She went back to her bed and leaned against the wall, a book in her lap and a notebook in one hand.

_Naome's POV, T&I HQ, Nine A.M._

Naome was wearing her uniform as she stepped into Ibiki's office. He was already there, calmly drinking coffee as he filled out some paperwork. He looked up at her entrance and put away whatever papers he had been looking at.

"Read this, then lie to me about it." He tossed a scroll at her and she obediantly opened it. It was a mission report, one of her's. This was from her mission to get information from Orochimaru as Nina.

She rolled it back up, remembering everything about that day all too clearly without reading about it again. Writing it had been nerve wracking.

"Hmm, you know I forgot to write in that Orochi was wearing a big snake as a scarf. Do you have a pen?" She asked him, looking over the desk for the afore mentioned writing utensil.

"Not bad." He praised her.

"Kabuto's here right? You think I could ask him why his hair was dyed blue then?" She continued without blinking an eye, leaning forward like she had yesterday.

"Good job." He said, almost visibly surprised. Naome was glad she read that extra chapter about reading faces. Knowing Tells was great, but being able to read and dissect a person's thoughts was all too tempting.

"I thought so!" She said cheekily.

"By the way, I lied in the original report. It should say Nina is a chain smoking hooker wearing little more than a bikini. I have no idea where old woman came from!" She said this while leaping onto the armchair from yesterday and making herself comfortable, looking all the world like a cat about to take a nap in the Sun.

"Alright, now we're done with that part. Follow me, don't speak." She raised an eyebrow but followed, wordlessly.

They walked down the third to the left hallway, then opened a door with descending stairs, then another branch, taking the middle one. Now they reached an interrogation room, where one Kabuto Yakushi sat, listless and paler than Naome had ever seen him.

"Prisoner K2Y, stand against the wall." Ibiki ordered. Kabuto's eyes flashed but he did as he was told, without a single sideways glance at her. Where did the confidant shinobi that she had tricked go?

"When will Orochimaru be at his weakest?" He asked, pointedly. The question gave the feel of one that had been asked a dozen times already, and was getting tiresome.

Kabuto stayed silent, he didn't move, didn't speak, didn't lift his eyes from the ground. He looked more like a ghost than a man. He was wearing what once must've been a white robe, but was now stained to a yellowish color. His hair was loose, unkempt. He wasn't even wearing his glasses.

"He is a good shinobi, he can withstand our torture and hasn't given up anything substantial concerning Orochimaru." Naome mentally reviewed that statement, noticing that he hadn't said anything about information on others. Just nothing about Orochimaru. Had Kabuto ever worked for someone else? How many masters did this guy have?

They stayed for an hour, Ibiki asking a question that would be ignored by Kabuto. An hour of Naome trying hard not to stare but being unable to help herself. He looked so different! They left him when another T&I guy came in to take him away. Walking back to Ibiki's office, Naome spoke.

"He looked so different." She murmured, mostly to herself. He looked like someone had taken a hammer to his reflection and the glass was all cracked. He was holding together, almost stubbornly, but Naome just knew that it would only take something small to break him now.

"Breaking people is easy Naome. Fixing them is harder, but often doable. To do it many times, breaking, healing, breaking healing, that is the life of an interrogater." Ibiki said slowly, pausing in the middle of the hall to turn back and look her in the eyes.

"It is not easy, and it's not a glorious job for a shinobi, but it is a necessary one. The few who are able to break someone by speaking are the ones that keep those walls around our village tall." They started to walk again. Naome stayed quiet as he reviewed her knowledge and practice of everything that had been in the book.

She lied, again and again. About everyday innocent things like what she bought when she went out for groceries, to the names of her kids' friends and who she commonly left them with when she was at work. Those kinds of things that could be deadly if she couldn't lie well enough.

"You know, with all this emphasis on lying I'm starting to wonder if there's a secret plan to have me captured and give false information to an enemy village." She joked at the end of the day.

"All newbies go through this training, you're just going through it faster than most. Next we'll work on resisting torture." She blinked and nearly missed a step. They weren't going to seriously hurt her, were they?

"There are different rules for interrogation of captured shinobi." He started, setting about making a new pot of coffee. Naome could see herself becoming addicted to caffeine at this rate.

"The lower ranked a shinobi is, the less they are allowed to use drastic measures. A genin for instance, would logically only have the most basic information about the village anyway and wouldn't be seriously tortured, only thrown into a cell to later be traded for one of their own." She nodded her understanding.

"Chunin, go through mild forms of torture which are used to figure out in which division that chunin belongs in. T&I, Border Patrol, maybe Intelligence." Naome accepted the cup of coffee with extra cream and sugar.

"Depending on where this chunin normally works, is how the torture is carried out. In Border Patrol you have good knowledge of the surrounding area, including potential ambush points and such. In T&I you know about all of Konoha's enemies and some important intel from other shinobi villages. Intelligence is where the big guns come out." She listened with rapt attention to his exposition.

"Intelligence means you have knowledge of _how_ the village works. What does it import, what does it export, how many weapons does it order yearly, small things that when coming together mean the enemy has us at a disadvantage. They could cut off our trade routes, sabotage shipments. Which in time would cripple us." Cripple most villages anyway. Konoha had the benefit on being on fertile soil so getting food wouldn't be too hard, plus the mountains had an iron deposit so making their own weapons wasn't too much of a stretch. Even though eventually it would run out.

"Naturally, the Border Patrol guy will be more or less ignored unless they need to get past other Border guys, while the Intelligence guy will be tortured for anything possible relevant to the running of a village." He finished his coffee and took out some papers to sign, giving her a look that warned her against trying to read them upside down. She shot him her best Who-Me? look at which he scoffed.

"Jounin, like Kabuto is in Oto, will be tortured to the breaking point. Jounin always know things, important things. Things like the level of shinobi currently in the village, potential weaknesses of other strong shinobi, closer connection to the kage who can then be targetted." That made sense, especially as there were so few jounin.

"Naturally, if anyone chunin or higher gets captured, we want them to be prepared to lie. Lie because their lives are forfeit." She felt her coffee grow cold, left mostly untouched in favor of listening to Ibiki.

"Trading prisoners doesn't happen as everyone seems to think. Hostage exchanges are complicated business and we don't like giving back the jounin we capture who could stay as potential bargaining chips later, for say a genin." Naome forced herself to keep a calm, innocently interested, look on her face while she took a big gulp of her coffee. It scalded her tongue but she gave no sign of notice.

"So when a genin or low level chunin is captured, a little more leeway is given to them. With higher level chunin and jounin we encourage them to lie and to never give away information, comitting suicide if it comes down to it." His empty mug was set aside as he leaned forward, looking her in the eye and looking for something she wasn't sure was there.

"You are considered high level, because of the Kyuubi, your association with me, your tutelage under Kakashi Hatake, and your mission streak. You will be expected to create a subtle method of death for the event that you are captured. Some put suicide pills in a cavity in their teeth, and just chomp down when it feels like they might not be able to hold out." Suddenly the sugar in her coffee made her want to spit in distaste.

"Others use a Devestation Seal, which destroyed the body and anything around it upon activation. This is used commonly for those with gekkei genkai so it can't be studied." He leaned back, breaking eye contact. Naome couldn't tell if he'd found whatever he was looking for.

"So shinobi are expected to kill themselves if they get captured?" Naome couldn't be proud of the fact her voice didn't shake. At the moment she was calm, like a sea before the storm. Only this storm would be hard and fast, gone as suddenly as it appeared.

"Would you rather an enemy getting information of your kids from you? And then targetting them? Like Orochimaru, for instance?" It isn't about you. That was the hardest, and easiest, thing to swallow about her training. She represented a larger whole than just herself, larger even than the village.

That night she questioned herself, not what should she do, but what would she do. If it was the village she was protecting, vs if she was defending her children. Naome was a little startled to find how deeply they had wormed their way into her heart. If it was just the village she was protecting, _just_ the village? Would she have the strength to kill herself?

If it was her kids, Naome couldn't hesitate. The moment the questioning turned to her family, Hikaru-chan, Yurei-chan, Shika-kun, then she wouldn't hesitate. She would kill herself. She would rather die then let them be hurt.

A Hokage had to protect everyone in the village, they were the central pillar of strength in the village, which everyone leaned on in times of trouble. Each life was precious to them and they would have to send their own family on missions they might not come back from. Could she handle that? Would she be able to send Yurei on a suicidal mission, knowing it would be the last time she ever saw her daughter? Could she bear to send Hikaru away only for him to return in a body bag?

It frightened her a little, what being a Hokage would mean. Maybe the part that scared her the most was she didn't care. She still wanted to be Hokage, knowing someday she would send a friend or worse, a child, on a mission they would never return from. She still wanted to sit in that office someday, looking over the village. Just the thought filled her with pride and warmth.

If she were captured before then, captured and tortured for information on those she cared about. Was she strong enough to die? Could she bring a kunai to her own neck and cut it without flinching?

Slowly, she got up and walked to Hikaru's room. She watched him sleep in the crib, absently reminding herself that he would need a bigger bed soon. He was clutching the stuffed frog she won him with one hand, his hair was a mess, she should get it cut.

If he was threatened, if the enemy ever tried to get information about her son from her, would she kill herself in order to protect him? She looked around the room, the locked window that showed a view of the backyard. She had given him this room because she didn't want just anyone on the street looking in and seeing him, making connections.

Would she kill herself to protect him? Yes, undeniably and without hesitation, yes! Tears slipped from her eyes but she didn't cry, not really. She smiled and ran a finger over his cheek, his two whisker marks standing out, feeling rough under her finger tips. She would do anything for this boy she hadn't planned. She laid a kiss on his brow and left.

She wiped her eyes and walked to Yurei's room. Her pale hair stood out on the dark purple bedding, and Naome pushed aside the canopy to sit down by the bedside, watching her sleeping face. Her two red eye brow marks, the gentle curl of a mouth on the verge of becoming a smile, the twitching eyes that she knew were a dark brown, chestnut.

Would she give the greatest sacrifice for this girl that wasn't even her's. She hadn't even known her for very long, a few months, barely that. Why did she love this little girl so much already? Why would she sacrifice her ambition, and she already knew she would, for a child that wasn't her's?

Because Yurei didn't care that she wasn't really her mother. Because Naome didn't care that Yurei really wasn't her's. They were eachother's and Naome already knew what she would do if Yurei was threatened.

She gently kissed her cheek before leaving, gently shutting the door behind her so she wouldn't wake up. Naome stood in the hallway, feeling the weight of her hitai-ate like no other time. Would it always be so hard? Would it always hurt, the thought that she might not come home one day? The thought that someday _they_ might not come home?

She couldn't sleep, she took out her easel and began a painting, completely fabricated, not from memory. She painted a crowd of people, her friends, her rivals, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, Shikamaru, Hikaru, Yurei, Ichigo, Anko, Asuma, Kurenai, Shino, Hinata, Haku, Kiba, Hana, Danzo, Jiraiya, Ibiki, Tsunade, Hokage-jiji, and even in the darkest shadow was a face she barely recognized but knew all too well.

They surrounded the Hokage tower, looking up at a figure framed by the Sun. It was a woman wearing Hokage robes. The robes hung open, revealing a kimono-esque shirt, three-quarter shinobi pants that hugged her figure, leg guards, and blue shinobi sandals. The woman was wearing the Hokage robes and the hat rested on her head, shadowing her face.

The woman's hair was blonde, framed by the golden Sun behind her. She was shadowed where the crowd was brightened, three whisker marks, like God's faintest pencil had drawn them on, lay on her cheek. She wasn't smiling, even though everyone else was. This was a Hokage.

_The Next Day, Inaugiration Ceremony._

"I swear I will protect Konoha and it's inhabitants, as the Godaime!" Tsunade finished her speech, to the roaring approval of the crowd. Everyone in the village was there, witnessed a new kage taking power. The start of a new age.

"A moment for the history books." Kakashi-sensei remarked, his eye shining in the bright light. He was the only one among them to have seen a Hokage take power before. Naome wondered what it felt like, watching his sensei die. Watching his sensei die to seal a fox demon inside her.

"Kaa-chan, when are you going to be hokage?" Yurei asked curiously. She had been pleased with Tsunade thus far, because her kaa-chan liked Tsunade-sama, but she still wanted to know.

"When I become strong enough and Tsunade decides to retire!" She promised happily, remembering last night and the painting sitting alone in her room. Had she painted that in a fit of hubris? Where did it come from, all of a sudden. Everyone who did something remarkable in her life was in that painting, all her precious people.

"Kaa-chan, looky!" Hikaru said, pointing behind her. Naome blinked and turned obediantly to see what had interested him. The world froze in place as she met the eyes of Ichigo.

He was glaring at her, disbelief, anger, hatred, and a civilian equilavent of KI directed right at her. She calmly faced him, feeling all her feelings of upset and fear that he finally knew the truth. He finally knew who Hikaru's real mother was.

He backed away, his face unshaven and twisted into a hideous scowl as he blended back into the celebrating crowd. He didn't stop glaring even as he lost sight of the Kyuubi. Naome stared back at where he'd gone, her arms unconciously tightening around her son and in Yurei's hand. She wasn't hiding anymore, and he wouldn't ruin this day.

"Kaa-chan?" Hikaru asked, visibly upset by the scary man glaring at his kaa-chan.

"It's okay Hikaru-chan, you can't please everyone all the time!" She down played it. He didn't know why she was hated, he didn't know why other children weren't allowed to play with him now that she came to the park with him. He didn't even notice.

Yurei did though, she noticed that parents were hesitant to let their kids play with her. They would look at Naome, who would always sit on the farthest bench, and whisper amongst themselves. Sometimes a parent would take their child and leave, but usually the kids were allowed to play.

Yurei looked back for that strange man, confused about anyone possible hating her kaa-chan like that. He hadn't said or done anything, but Yurei was confused and worried. What was this bad feeling inside her? Not anger, although it was there at the strange man. It wasn't fear either, she knew what that felt like and kaa-chan would always protect her.

This feeling was like a chill down her spine, a cold wind that sent shudders through her body on an otherwise warm and happy day. This feeling was a bad omen.

_Later that Day, Hokage Tower._

She could still go on missions with her team, that was a relief. They took a B-rank escort mission in the land of Tea and set off, for the first time without Kakashi-sensei. He was busy with a more important mission, as was nearly every high ranked shinobi in the village in the wake of the invasion, despite how well they turned it away.

"So who are we escorting?" Naome would be the leader of the mission, as she was a chunin. There was some big race in the land of Tea where they'd have to defend the runner against the ninja hired to help the opponent. Straight forward enough.

"I don't know." Tsunade answered. She was visibly displeased with the paperwork drifting about and waiting to be done. If she'd known being Hokage involved sitting at a desk a majority of the time, she might have thought about it a little more.

"You'll have to ask when you get there." With that they were dismissed to enjoy their remaining free time before leaving in two hours. Plenty of time to pack up for a B-rank mission, especially for this team.

"How long will you be gone?" Yurei-chan asked, her mouth curled in an adorable pout.

"Not very long, only about three days. One to get there, one for the race, one to get home!" She promised as she packed a spare outfit into her bag.

"Who are we staying with?" She asked this time, Hikaru being busy fiddling with the bag buckles because he wanted to do it himself and Naome let him.

"Shikamaru." That particular meeting of the parents had been nerve wracking. After having it all explained Naome fully expected Yoshino to turn her away and shout to never look at her son again, not that she would have obeyed.

As it stood, Yoshino didn't forgive easy. She liked Hikaru though, and had already fallen in love with Yurei. She didn't really understand why Naome went to such lengths to hide her identity, and her son lying to her was only the tip of the iceberg. Still, at least Shikaku already knew and only shrugged when Yoshino asked what he felt about all this. He was withholding judgement.

Naome met her teammates at the gates and took the chance to look over the both of them. Sakura with her cute bob hair cut and red dress, noticable muscle mass gain on her arms and legs. She looked more confident, even if it was shaky.

Sasuke was wearing a dark blue shirt with the Uchiha crest on the back. His black shorts ended just below the knees and he wore a single kunai pouch strapped to his leg, a shuriken pouch strapped to a belt and resting on his right hip. His hair, which had grown out before the final round of the chunin exams, was tied back into a short ponytail with his bangs framing his face around his hitai-ate.

Tsunade was there to see them off. Naome watched her walk up to Sakura, obviously throwing the pinkette through a loop when the new Hokage deigned to speak to her.

"I've heard good things about you in the hospital Haruno-san. If you keep up the work you'll make a good medic." She praised the girl.

"Uh well, I want to be able to protect Sasuke-kun and Naome!" Sakura gulped, wondering how childish that made her sound. Tsunade didn't seem to think less of her.

She was actually a little impresses. This pink haired little girl wanted to actually fight beside her teammates? It reminded her of herself, when she was still just a kid.

She shoved a bottle of poison antidote into Sakura's hands before letting team seven get on the move. She watched from her position at the gate as they got ready to leave.

"Alright, let's get a move on!" She said with finalty, for once not wearing her T&I uniform and enjoying the oppurtunity. Now she wore her chunin vest, her arm and leg guards and dark blue shinobi pants, her Hitai-ate stationed on her forehead and her done up in a ponytail as she still hadn't gotten it cut!

Nearing dinner time they decided to stop at a quaint little tea shop for a bite to eat before heading on to Jirocho-sama's village. They sat down, ordering their respective meals, and were just biting in when they were interrupted.

"Heh, stopping to stuff your faces? Being a ninja looks pretty cushy." Came a condescending voice. Naome looked up questioningly to see a boy only a couple years older than them looking down at them like they were filth on the bottom of his sandals. He seemed to notice her look because he bent down to be face to face with her.

"Hey there beautiful, I didn't see you there! I didn't mean you of course!" He apologized in a way that sounded kind of like he was making fun of her. Naome could see resentment in his eyes and it confused her, since she didn't know the guy so she couldn't possibly have done something bad to him.

"So don't you think it's time to embrace your destiny?" He asked her, flashing what might've been a good imitation of a flirtatious smile if it reached his eyes. Sadly for him, she could read his game from a mile away.

"If by destiny you mean my ignoring you until you go away, then I completely agree." She snarked, turning back to her curry to finish up her meal. She had been travelling all day, eating lunch on the go, she deserved a nice meal in peace!

"Actually I meant where you give up this stupid shinobi business and run away with me." He said, leaning down so that he was only a few inches from her face. She indulged herself with comparing him to Shika-kun and decided she liked the lazy boy over the wannabe player.

"...Naome, are you going to hit the guy or should I go ahead and tell him you have a boyfriend?" Sakura spoke up, looking in distaste at the older boy.

"He's a civilian, we're not supposed to hit civilians. I just got promoted chunin, I have no desire to turn in my vest." She chuckled at her pink haired teammate, still ignoring the older boy.

"Feh, if that's the way you want to be." The boy snapped, turning away like she had hurt his pride or something. Naome was surprised to see genuine hurt and _jealousy_ in his expression. What was he jealous of?

With that he left and it seemed like they could go back to their dinner in peace, until the owner of the tea shop came up and told them that the weird guy left them his bill. With that, they downed the rest of their food, Naome slapped the money on the table, and they were gone.

"Young people these days, always in such a rush." The woman chuckled to herself, memories of her own youth flashing through her mind as she wiped the tables clean.

The guy had a head start, but they managed to catch up to him when he tripped on a tree root and fell off the cliff side. Luckily some vines broke his fall, because they weren't feeling generous enough to have saved his worthless hide after the trick he pulled.

"You have some nerve, sticking random shinobi with your bill like that." She frowned down at him, really only mildly irritated by the loss of the money. She was doing very well for herself so money wasn't as big an issue as it once was, back in the long ago, before she discovered the joys of owning an apartment and renting it out to anyone willing to pay.

He was panicking, his eyes darting to and fro for an escape route, and then he just seemed to deflate. He dropped to an apologetic crouch and began begging for forgiveness.

"I'm sorry! Bandits stole all my money earlier, I was hungry and you were there and I didn't know what else to do!" He wailed in a very convincing manner. If not for her recent training under Ibiki she wouldn't have realized it was anything but the truth.

"You know, you should work on your lying skills. I work in T&I so I know what it means to lie." She advised him, only now taking a good look at his clothes. He wasn't roughed up or injured in anyway, like a bandit victim would be. In fact his clothes were in pretty good condition, they looked pretty expensive too. 'The bandits' would've taken his threads if he'd really been attacked.

There was a thunk as something landed on her head, leaving what would be a big bruise if not for her healing abilities. She looked at her feet to see what hit her head and saw a switchblade, good quality, the kind that hid the blade and opened when you pushed a button.

"That's mine!" The boy cried suddenly, his hand darting out and grabbing the knife. He flipped away in a method that screamed shinobi, putting her on edge. Then he took off some ankle weights.

"3...2...1." He dropped the weights, which activated a smoke screen. They jumped out of range and ran to catch the punk, each of them recognizing training in an instant. He also happened to be heading towards Jirocho's village, so they made good time.

As it stood though, they didn't have a prayer of catching him. A long trail of dust was left in his wake but at his speed and with no signs of slowing, it didn't look too good for them.

"He's out of our league." Sakura panted. She had actually lasted better than Naome expected. All that running around the hospital evidently came in handy.

"Lets just find Jirocho and get this mission started. Wasting our time on some punk isn't really what we're being paid for." Sasuke pointed out, surprisingly calm. Then again he wasn't the one who had to pay for four meals instead of one. Sasuke and Sakura officially owed her money!

"Welcome to my home, I trust your accomodations are satisfactory." Naome had met him on the way back to Konoha with Tsunade-baba. He was a kind hearted old man, and the head of a very influential clan that gave alot of good business to Konoha.

"Couldn't be better!" She assured him.

"Ano, the scroll didn't say who we would be escorting." She left the sentence open and waited for a moment.

"Ah yes, Idate is our runner. I asked him to be brought here as soon as he got back from his errand." At that moment the door slid open to reveal a familiar figure.

"Sorry I'm late Jirocho-sama." If she was anymore hot headed and brash than she already was, Naome would have screamed. As it were, she settled for a very unladly like groan and left it at that.

Dinner was a tense affair. The food was wonderful, the entertainment very tasteful, but the air could have been cut with a kunai. Idate sat across from her and his glare bored into her skull. She was certain there should be scorch marks on her forehead from the intensity of his scowl. Sasuke still put him to shame though, Idate's glare didn't communicate how far beneath him the target was.

"Naome, who did you leave Hikaru-kun and Yurei-chan with?" Sakura asked awkwardly, eager to break this uncomfortable silence. Naome jumped at the conversation.

"With Shika-kun. Hikaru was really excited about staying with 'tou-chan'!" She chuckled, remembering the first time Hikaru ever called Shikamaru daddy.

"It's so romantic!" The pinkette sighed, feigning swooning at the cliche of it all. Naome laughed, loudly and without holding back. She really didn't have a right to talk though, she still liked Sasuke.

"You're going to spoil them you know. Especially Yurei. I thought you didn't play favorites." Sasuke spoke up, getting in to the conversation now.

"She deserves a real childhood before I'm forced to put her in the academy. She's told me a little about her life before and I still kind of hate her mother." Naome tried to justify herself. Besides, Hikaru was a boy and didn't like wearing pretty dresses like Yurei-chan. He was only a year old, there wasn't much she could do in the way of spoiling.

"Forced? Doesn't she _want_ to be a kunoichi, just like her _kaa-chan!_" Sakura snarked, emphasising the kaa-chan because she knew Naome would get embarrassed by it.

"I'd prefer her to just stay five years old forever. So I could eternally buy her new dresses and dolls!" Naome swore, feigning a sigh and momentarily forgetting about the boy sitting across from her.

"Who are they? Your siblings?" It was the first he'd spoken since arriving at the manor. Naome purposely drew out the moment, looking him over and trying to decide how much she wanted to say.

"They're my children." She said, straight faced and unwavering, looking into his eyes and seeing surprise, disbelief, and confusing all vying for dominance.

"Hikaru was definitely unplanned and is a year old, beautiful little boy. Yurei is adopted but for all intents and purposes she is my beautiful, five year old, daughter." With that it was back to uncomfortable silence as everyone tried to think of something to say to make the tension ease. This was going to be a long mission.

The next morning they stood at the port, in front of the crowd but behind the runners. Naome's chakra sense, and Sasuke's too she was sure, were focusing in on three genin level signals to the far right but they ignored it for now. If they didn't do anything then team seven had no reason to cause problems.

Idate's opponent Fukusuke Hikyakuya was a fully grown man. Naome could read him as easily as any instruction scroll. He was cocky, he obviously knew about the shinobi body guards he had and kept looking at them with looks that plainly said he looked forward to them dying, but there was also fear. It might've been because Naome sent a strain of concentrated KI at him after the fifth time he looked over his shoulder at them.

He was the runner of the Wagarashi family, the head of which, Kyuroko, was a fine piece of work. Naome had sent a couple bunshins to scout out the town, just in case, and had experienced deja vu at the startling similarities of Tea and Nami. There weren't as many orphans or homeless, but people here were down trodden. Their only hope was this race.

Naome met the eyes of Kyuroko and briefly played with the idea of sending more concentrated KI at him, but thought better of it. He looked like the kind of guy to make a big scene and she didn't want to put something like that in the mission report.

"The Todoroki Shrine Race...Has Begun!" Cried the flag waver, and the two opponents were off. They went through the gate and team seven began moving to join Idate on his boat when he made a wrong turn.

Well, by wrong turn she meant he turned left and started running even faster, completely ignoring the boat that was right in front of him. Naome felt a little like breaking his legs and dragging him back and carrying him over the finish line herself for that. She held herself back though, because as she was running to catch up to him something caught her eye.

Fukusuke's sails were blowing back towards the port, making it rock back unsteadily. She let herself think about that, unsure what it could mean, and came to an epiphany. The wind was against him, but if Idate was the kind of guy she got the feeling of, then he already knew that, and he was going to work it to his advantage.

Following after him, Naome wondered again and again if he had previous shinobi training. He had the chakra for it, and the physique. An academy drop out who had retained his training, expanding on it? It was possible.

"Oi, I hope you got a boat waiting for you! Otherwise we've lost alot of time!" She was right behind him now, close enough to grab him if she reached out. He was still wearing his weights.

"Unlike you I use my head!" He insulted her at the same time as he reassured her. She mentally scoffed, rolling her eyes at the moody teenage boy, and pushed forward.

Something about the surroundings seemed off to her but she brushed it off. She hadn't sent any bunshins this way so she didn't know the area. How would she know if something wasn't right, besides Idate seemed intent on this direction?

"Naome! You and Idate are in a genjutsu!" Sakura shouted down. Naome immediatly stopped moving, stopping herself from running into Idate's form, which had also froze. He was moving again in a moment though, after dispelling it. Naome felt irked that she still hadn't improved in genjutsu dispelling and waited for Sakura to free her, impatiently.

She then had to go and save Idate from falling off a cliff. She grabbed him by the belt, feeling a rope wrap around her waist and the resulting burn as it dug into her skin through her vest. It cushioned the blow though, so the pain wasn't anything that she couldn't handle.

"You idiot! Watch where you're going!" She screamed at the heavy boy. He seemed to be in shock after the near death experience.

"Oi you stupid girl! I didn't ask you to save me!" So much for being in shock. Idate wiggled around, trying to get to an angle where he could hit her probaly. Naome struggled to maintain her hold, yelling for him to stop moving so they could be pulled out. She was kind of contemplated dropping him though.

"I didn't ask you to save me." He grumbled once they were back on solid ground. Naome wondered if his parents dropped him on his head as a baby.

"It's our mission." She sighed, rolling her shoulders to try and ease the ache. Note to self, work on upper body strength more.

"Let's hurry up now, I don't want you to lose the race." She stood up, holding her hand out to Idate. He swatted it away, scoffing at the helpful gesture. Naome wondered why he looked afraid, even though he was safe now.

The property was run down, the shack may as well have sat on that beach for fifty years for all it fit into the scenery. Idate ran up to the door and talked to an old man, she was too far away to listen without actively trying, so she ignored it in favor of looking across the to the island on the other side.

"The current is heading straight to that island, along with the wind." Sasuke mentioned, his gaze fixed on the water being pulled from the beach.

"We have a race to win don't we? Get on the boat!" Idate snarked at them, coming up behind them from the shack and heading to board the sailing boat. It was smaller than the ones at the port, it would be faster.

They had been aboard for five minutes and she was already bored. Naome had only been on a boat to get to Nami and hadn't been able to admire the water as much, but here there was nothing _but_ water to look at. The distant island, and the finish line, was just a smudge on the horizon.

"How long have you been a chunin?" That was a surprise. Out of all of them Naome didn't expect for him to speak up.

"Not long, only about a week." She answered. A little more or a little less didn't matter. She wasn't obligated to answer him with exact times.

"Feh, the standards must've gone down." He scoffed at her answer, turning back to the front of the boat. Was it called a prow? Should she look up these things?

"Wait, standards? How would you know what standards the chunin exams have?" She eyed him suspiciously.

"Wait a minute, I heard Jirocho-sama say his last name is Morino!" Sakura gasped, she wasn't the only one to know that name. A flash from the interrogation room swamped her mind and she forced herself back to the present.

"Ah, Ibiki-san is the one who requested me to be assigned to T&I when I got promoted. The guy gets a kick out of making me sick to my stomach with all his torture technique talk." She shuddered, remembering quite clearly the first unfinished chapter of her new text book. Torture Techniques and You was not a pleasant before bed read.

"M-My brother? He's alive?" Idate stuttered, looking stunned, relieved, and a little scared. She hadn't known Ibiki had a brother!

"Course he is, and enjoying screwing the minds of innocent genin in the chunin exams. The tenth question was such a curve ball." He really did get his jollies out of scaring small children didn't he?

"Curve ball? You were cool as a cucumber!" Sasuke accused her, a valiant attempt at easing the tension. Naome would have probably responded with something sarcastic and witty if an arrow hadn't imbedded itself at her feet, narrowly missing her toes. She really didn't want to know if the Kyuubi could regenerate lost appendages.

"You know, I was kind of hoping our brand of luck was only for C-ranks." She said bitterly. Things could never be easy, could they!

Sasuke had to jump away from the tiller to avoid more arrows, landing by her side with Sakura and Idate behind them. Yep, there was the boat following them. The shinobi on board looking a little familiar but she just couldn't place them. Where had she seen them before?

More arrows rained down, attaching themselves to the mast and the railing. These arrows had ropes tied to them, which the enemy boat was using to draw beside them. That didn't look too good.

"Sasuke, I want those ropes cut! Sakura, keep an eye on Idate!" Naome barked out her orders, moving forward to start slicing. A kunai was in her hand and she started cutting, already starting to realize it was too late. How had they gotten so close? Why had she let her guard down?

"Clones!" They weren't moving though. They should have started attacking right away to give them less time to put up their guard.

"Sakura, Naome, they can't attack unless it's the real one!" Sasuke's sharingan eyes spun dizzyingly as he inspected the embodiments. Where was the real one? Behind Naome, of course.

"Naome, behind you!" He cried in warning. He was too late though, because Naome was mowed down before his eyes. He felt panic set in as his kunai came down to stab through her when she vanished in a puff of smoke.

Two bunshins fell from atop the mast, landing on top of him and nearly finishing him off when he managed to escape back to his ship, which had gotten all the closer. Things were looking bad.

Naome was looking over at the ship, wondering how exactly they planned to attack next, when she felt a difference. Of course the clones would turn into water clones. Of course those stupid ame genin level in would be strong enough to creat a dozen water clones!

"They changed!" She growled, dispelling two of them easily. Her other bunshin was already locked in battle with two more. Water clones only had about 1/10 of the original's power, and made by genin that translated to alot of weaklings.

Sakura's role was bodyguard while Naome and Sasuke-kun got rid of the threat. She stood in front of Idate, holding a few kunai and helpfully sniping at whatever clone happened to garner her irritation. These guys really were weak, why use these when all they were doing was making them mad? If they were hoping to tire them out then they had another thing coming. Naome was a stamina _monster_ and Sasuke-kun had been training in stamina since Nami.

She felt a drop land on her cheek and brushed it off in confusion. That's weird, it hadn't looked like rain today. In fact it was a perfect day, sunny with only a few clouds drifting across the sky. So where did the rain come from?

Only it wasn't rain. She gasped when she realized she could smell oil and it began falling all over their boat. Oil typically meant fire. Sasuke's preferred ninjutsu was katon.

"Sasuke-kun don't use any fire jutsu!" She cried in warning, images of them all being burnt to husks in a second entered her mind and refused to leave.

Luckily Sasuke heard her over the sounds of battle and dropped the signs he'd been forming. He cursed a little at that, since he'd been planning to take out the lot in one blow. Doing things the slow way was so annoying when the opponents were weak.

It was looking like they were just going to have to muscle their way through, until a flaming arrow landed in a puddle of oil. Within seconds flames were stretching over every inch of the sail boat, the smoke billowed up, shielding them from view at the same time it choked off their air.

"We have to make a break for it, swim for Nagi island!" Naome ordered, coughing a little when the smoke got to her lungs. It was like being stuck inside Gamabunta's pipe all over again, without the smell of tobacco.

"Idate can you swim?" Sakura asked, he lived on the mainland after all and not alot of civilians actively learned how to swim.

"Of course." He answered a little absently. He was looking at the fire, his eyes didn't stray from the flames reaching to devour him.

"Idate you go first, I'll cover you!" She promised, focusing more on the water clones that had reappeared. When would those guys get tired of making them? They weren't doing anything but making them mad!

"No way! Do you think I'm stupid! You probably just want to use me as a decoy so you can get away!" He accused in a panic, his entire body was shaking in fear. He wanted to run, but on a burning ship there really wasn't anywhere to run _to._

"Idate I promise you that we'll protect you!" It wasn't going to work. Naome could see the blatant denial on his face like the kanji had been painted on. He wouldn't believe them.

One of the clones decided to get smart and threw a kunai. Sakura saw it move in slow motion as she automatically moved to shield the mission objective. The bite of the kunai was minimal, given somewhere safer and she might even be able to heal it. For now though, that wasn't an option.

"I'll be right behind you!" She told the older boy, pushing him to the edge and then pushing him overboard. From there he really didn't have a choice but to swim for it, and pray his trust wasn't misplaced.

Naome, Sasuke, and Sakura dived into the water after waiting for Idate to make some space. Luckily they didn't seem to be too far from the island. Naome wished she could walk on the water, but the smoke was doing so well concealing them that she decided a little wet clothes wasn't going to kill her.

She felt the hand wrap around her ankle and immediatly regretted this decision. Wet clothes was going to kill her, it was going to kill her very much dead. Naome didn't want to be killed very much dead.

As she was dragged under and forced to take one last breath of fresh air, Naome decided that she hated swimming.

**End of Le Chapter, now please Review, review, review, as I bid thee, adue!**

LC; Well that was fun. I finished it before we had to ship the computer too!

Naruto; Sorry folks but this might be the last for a while.

Sasuke; She's not abandoning it, she's just moving and has to ship the computer.

LC; Please don't be too angry with me! I'll try my hardest to update as soon as I get my computer back! Review!


	10. Playing Catch Up

LC; Hiya folks! After a long break I'm back in the saddle!

Naruto; There's a special mention here for one Tachi Kagahara, an anonymos reviewer!

LC; You gave me one of the biggest compliments I've gotten since I started this story! They say that my fic is the best they've read since they came to five years ago! I always love getting huge compliments like these so I thought I'd mention it!

Disclaimer; I do not own Naruto! However when my forces over-run Japan I will have this story replace cannon and then Shippuden will be replaced by the sequel-to-be of this fic, which I plan to call Mama is a Sensei. And then there will be a third expansion called Mama is a Kage!

Chapter 10: Enter Team Seven.

Naome had a flashback of when Kakashi-sensei was trapped by Zabuza inside the Water Prison. Sensei was still able to breathe and talk normally, his voice only disrupted by the water. Was it a technique? If so, she would be demanding it be taught to all three of them, and then she would teach it to Shika-kun, and maybe Hinata.

The Ame genin's arms were wrapped around her, also capturing one arm. With her free arm she tried to reach her shuriken pouch, but ultimately had to give up the idea. Already Sasuke and Sakura were captured by the other two and held immobile as they sank.

If they sank much farther, getting to the surface before running out of air looked dodgy at best. Naome tried to loosen the grip around her, feeling her lungs begin to burn. Then she realized her free arm was within reach of her opponent's shuriken pouch, which held numerous shiny stars perfect for puncturing through breathing masks.

Bubbles floated up from the cut line and in surprise the boy holding her let go of one arm to try and stop water from getting in. She used this opportunity to summon a dozen bunshins and send them down.

"Heh, did you really think you could escape using that bunshin trick. It won't work." He had quickly replaced his mask with a new one, although this one was a little bulkier.

"I've got a hold of the original, and I'm going to keep holding on...until she runs out of breath." He laughed, obviously thinking that those bunshins had been part of some desperation tactic. Naome wasn't paying him any attention though; her eyes were focused on a scene playing out below her.

The twelve bunshins had reached the sea floor and were standing in a circle, their arms held out. They focused on what they remembered about the first step of the rasengan, which was imbuing the water with their chakra to make it spin in several directions at once. Timed by twelve, in a circular formation, this should equate to a whirlpool.

Naome made a mental note to refine this particular technique in case something like this ever happened again. It would be handy to create a whirlpool whenever she wanted! If she kept making mental notes she would need a new to-do list.

They began swirling in the water, being drug further down as the water berated them. The turbulence gave team seven the added advantage of being hostages by disabling their opponents. The Ame genin couldn't hold them and keep them from being drug down. Although, being knocked unconscious and then being dragged down while they made their escape probably wasn't much better.

Naome began swimming against the currents, getting feedback as the bunshins began to dispel. She felt lightheaded and the water was really too cold for a comfortable swim. Sasuke and Sakura were a little ahead of her and she was glad they were okay.

Air was a wonderful change from the pressure of underwater. Naome took in great gulps of it in thankfulness, floating beside her Sasuke and Sakura did the same.

Naome looked at the not-so-distant shoreline, hoping to see Idate waiting for them or if not that then seeing a cloud of dust making a trail behind him, he did have a race to win. She saw neither, and fear gripped her heart. What sort of shinobi travels with genin?

They didn't bother with swimming this time, they all knew how to walk on water and at the moment Naome didn't care that the air was cold against her clothes. She just wanted to finish this mission already and get something warm to eat.

"Be prepared for a jounin." She warned her friends needlessly. They didn't say anything about her paranoia though. This was the first mission she would lead as a chunin, she didn't want something like an enemy jounin getting in the way of her thus far flawless record!

She recognized him, which was odd because she hadn't even read a bingo book since becoming a genin. At the moment she couldn't place a name but she knew his face at least, and the crime he committed when he ran away from Konohagakure. He stole village secrets and the Thunder Blade of the Nidaime.

He was also in the middle of killing their meal ticket, which kind of pissed her off as much as it relieved her. If this guy was a professional he would've settled for just killing him quickly and neatly and they would be too late. Why did so many shinobi like to show off?

She flung a few kunai to make him get away from Idate and they stood in front of him protectively, Sakura kneeling beside him to check his injuries and heal what she could.

"What a pleasant surprise, here I thought you would've just run away!" He quipped at them, like Hikaru when he did something he thought was particularly clever, like flushing her keys down the toilet.

"Real Konoha shinobi don't run out on their pals, not that you would understand. After all, you were the one who ran away." She replied calmly, taking note of the needles at her feet. He fought with senbon, judging from the discoloration in the puddles they were dipped in poison. Sakura got some Konoha standard poison antidote; hopefully this poison wasn't anything special.

"You brat, I'll have you know that I did not run away! I simply decided to work for someone else! Our new God is far stronger than your Hokage! I am a jounin under his command!" He cried in what sounded kind of like a preacher of Shinto she'd listened to once as a child. This talk of Gods was foreign to shinobi, who generally worshipped lady luck if anyone at all.

"Jounin? Maybe in Ame, but in Konoha you're a chunin, and not even a good one at that. You were an academy teacher, one of the lower ranked ones in charge of teaching the Genin Corps." Did he have the Thunder Blade with him? Why had he been allowed to take it anyway, without anyone going to demand its return? Even if it wasn't much more powerful than a regular sword imbedded with lightning chakra, it was a weapon of the Nidaime.

"Brat! You're just three kids up against a jounin! No matter how many attack me I will always be the victor!" He could talk but it looked more like the yappings of one of those really annoying rat-dog things from Suna. What were they called again? A Chihuahua?

"No matter how many, ne?" Sasuke smirked, looking at her in a way that said clearly that he thought the missing nin guy was asking for it. Personally, Naome agreed.

"Guys, make this quick. Idate needs to get out of this rain." Sakura ordered professionally, having finished giving her patient first aid and the medicine. It seemed to be working but he did need to get somewhere warm to recover.

"You cocky brats, allow me to show you why they made me a jounin! The Thunder Blade of the Nidaime Hokage!" With a zshoom the sword was activated, its light momentarily blinding them. Naome looked carefully at his wrist, which although holding up the sword, was relaxed. It obviously wasn't very heavy, but it revealed something else to her.

He didn't know how to use it. He was the equivalent of a small child with a steak knife. He could swing it around but when it came down to it he was not a kenjutsu user. He was more likely to hurt himself than hurt them. What did one do when faced with a small child with a steak knife? They took it away.

"You can't use that thing, can you? Do you even know a style?" She asked him curiously, bringing her hands up to a very familiar seal. With a flash of her chakra the Ame jounin was surrounded. Chunin, chunin, everywhere, but only one 'jounin' to thrash.

"Clones?" He scoffed, looking at one of the bunshins, which he probably thought was the original, and giving them a look that said plainly PITY. He was in for a surprise.

"How did you become an academy teacher anyways? Don't they have a screening you have to go through before becoming a teacher, responsible for numerous small, impressionable, children?" She questioned while her first five bunshins charged from behind. The dawning 'oh crap' face was priceless and she wished she had thought to keep her camera handy. She had it sealed in a scroll though and it was too late to pull it out. Darn, she'd have to sketch that from memory later.

The lightning sword was painful. It wasn't a shinobi weapon by any definition of the phrase. It was loud, making a weird static sound every time he moved, and it was bright, nearly blinding her if she looked directly at it. Easy enough to avoid since the wielder was a novice at best. Over all though, the lightning sword was painful!

Naome 'felt' as a few bunshin died in the line of duty. The phrase 'I have but one life to give' came to mind as he cut through the unlucky ones like butter. The sword could move, bending this way and that and tendrils of lightning breaking off to attack. But he was a novice, and he couldn't guard his vitals really well.

So hitting him from behind, repeatedly, was depressingly easy. When he was down and the sword pocketed, Naome was very disappointed. Maybe she was a little spoiled, having spent so much time around people like Kakashi-sensei, Tsunade-baba, and Ero-sensei. This was the strength of the typical chunin-low jounin shinobi.

"Am I the only one a little pissed that he couldn't back up all his talk?" Naome playfully asked her teammates after she finished tying and gagging him. She placed a quick knock out seal on his forehead before actually helping move Idate out of the rain and into a nearby cave.

She set the ame guy, whom she'd dubbed Grassy for his poor performance and green hair, against the wall while Sasuke and Sakura laid Idate down. He was clutching his pocket knife, even unconscious. He must've been dreaming, because he kept twitching like he was trying to run.

Naome looked back at Grassy and took out her scroll, unsealing the bingo book she had. It was relatively new, as it was updated every six months and she'd gotten this one right after the chunin exams. She was a little surprised to find Gaara in the genin section, but since it was too new to have information about the chunin exams they hadn't mentioned him being defeated in the invasion. Plus even if they did add that, they'd probably say it was Sasuke who did it, stupid gekki genkai lovers.

_Aoi Rokusho, chunin level traitor to Konohagakure. He was charged with the theft of a coded scroll of village secrets and the Thunder Blade of the Nidaime Hokage. He was known to have caused the death of one genin Idate Morino. Skill set is believed to be-._

Naome stopped reading, focusing on the second to last line. Idate Morino was the younger brother of Ibiki Morino, current head of T&I and her mentor. He was labeled 'dead', probably carved into the memorial stone back home. Yet here he was, not three feet away from her and sleeping like a baby.

Ibiki wasn't the kind of guy who would just abandon one of his men, especially his little brother. They had never recovered a body so Ibiki would've searched high and low for him, unless something about the incident gave him reason to believe that Idate could not have survived.

There was still too much about the incident that she didn't know. If she wanted answers, she'd have to ask both Idate and Aoi. Get the two sides of the story, then try and figure out which parts to believe. She didn't think it would be too hard though, and maybe she could get information on Ame's 'New God'. It sounded important.

Idate didn't look like he was going to wake up anytime soon, so she turned her attention to the bound and gagged Aoi. She really didn't want to start with him, on top of him being harder to control if he tried to fight, he was just really irritating.

"Guys, I'm going to wake this jerk up to get a little info. Don't say anything to him; he might use it against us." They looked like they wanted to ask her what exactly she was going to do, but T&I reputation proceeded her. She didn't like the idea of Sasuke and Sakura being afraid of her but she'd deal with it later.

Aoi spluttered awake after she slapped him across the face. It took a second for him to figure out where he was but his eyes narrowed down and he gave her a glare that reminded her a bit of Ichigo, scarily enough.

"Look here Aoi, there's something I want to ask you. Answer me honestly; I'll put in a good word with my sensei, Ibiki Morino." She saw his face pale drastically at the sound of the name. First, mention a threat, and then make a promise to protect him against said threat.

"First question, report the incident that made you a missing nin. Tell me every insignificant detail." She ordered. She made sure that her face was motionless as she watched emotions flicker across his face. A chunin, undoubtedly. However he was a low ranked one at best, at least by Konoha standards.

"If I don't?" He questioned, Naome's eyes flickered to his hands, which were subtly testing the rope. Each finger was isolated, preventing hand signs.

"I chop off a finger." Losing fingers was synonymous to retirement in the shinobi field. Can't make hand signs without your digits.

"I have a few questions, maybe ten, maybe less. If I just happen to run out of fingers, then I'll cut off toes." Okay, she wasn't sure she could actually bring it to herself to actually do those things, but he didn't know that. She had more or less told him she was a member of T&I, and they were particularly ruthless to traitors as to enemy nin.

Aoi swallowed dryly, he surveyed his area, taking in the situation. He was trapped like a rat. Nothing he could do would help him, making this girl mad would lose him everything. Unless he obeyed her, he could kiss it all good bye.

If he played along though, fed her false information maybe, then he could use an opportune moment to escape.

"I tricked Idate into stealing a scroll of village secrets and the Sword of the Thunder God. I told him it was an alternate test to become chunin, and when he brought the objects to me I told him that he had betrayed his village and his only hope was to accompany me to Ame where we would be made a chunin and jounin respectively." He began. Naome detected no traces of a lie, but she knew he was planning one. He'd slip it among the truth, to confuse her.

"We were persued by Ibiki Morino and three ANBU. The ANBU were killed and I trapped Ibiki in order to force him to decode the scroll." The truth so far, but how did he kill the ANBU? Did he have back up?

"I tortured him for the information but nothing I did fazed him." Nothing _would, _Ibiki was head of T&I for a reason. He had to be able to withstand large amounts of physical torture to reach such a position.

"He broke free and moved to kill both Idate and I, who I'd kept, tied up in a corner of the hut I was using. He attacked me first, driving me back and accidentally knocking over some candles I'd been using for light, causing a fire to erupt." She wondered if he knew how bad he was at keeping his emotions hidden. He either hadn't been practicing, or just really sucked at it. She could see the anticipation in his eyes. He was going in for what he thought was the kill, but Naome was set up to dodge his attempts.

"Right after that I tried to help Idate, after all he was just a child, a genin, and I'd hoped to make Ibiki back down by using his brother." He played it off as though he'd been trying to do the honorable thing, but she had heard it all before. Gain sympathy, play off their humanity. She knew this tactic; she knew how to demolish it.

"Aoi, do you think I'm some blind rookie who doesn't have the basics of the trade down? They don't let _ordinary_ chunin into T&I." She said in a warning tone. She was certain by now that she was freaking out Sasuke and Sakura, but there really wasn't anything she could do. Their fear helped to emphasize her words; she could only hope they'd understand. Hope they would realize she was still Naome, still a girl incapable of holding a grudge, still the most knuckleheaded of the rookie nine.

"Now, if I don't hear less exaggerations and lies from you, I might be inclined to start wildly flipping my kunai around." She finished, looking him in the eye and letting not an ounce of KI betray her. She was calm, ruthless in this endeavor. She would find out what really happened, no other alternatives.

"We were all separated by the fire." He took a deep breath before continuing. The admission seemed to almost cause him pain to admit, but it was progress.

"I didn't pay attention to them after that, focusing only on getting out with skin intact. I didn't know if either had survived, although in Ame later on I heard news about Ibiki. Until receiving this mission I thought Idate was dead." She nodded and then smiled, a little shaken by the story, a little relieved.

"Considering you and Ibiki have such history, there might not be much I can do." She admitted, shrugging slightly at his panicked expression.

"For now, we'll call it a night and knock you out." With that, she replaced the seal tag on his forehead and he slumped forward, eyes closing. Her first interrogation and she was certain it was a success.

"…For the record, it is nothing like I thought it would be. That was actually easier than I expected." She sighed, leaning back and taking her first good look at her teammates. They looked more shaken than her, but was she crazy to think that maybe they did understand? They could empathize with her desire to know why the mission was suddenly so much more complicated.

"Are you guys, you know, afraid of me?" She asked, tentatively, worried about rejection. Over their time together, she'd viewed them as a necessary evil, then to friends, and finally to true companions who she would be glad to have at her back through whatever missions they were assigned.

"Che. You're still not very intimidating." Sasuke scoffed, covering up any unease he'd felt a moment ago. He wasn't lying, but Naome could tell he was still unsettled. He wasn't afraid of her, but T&I in general had probably garnered just a bit more caution on his part.

"I'm not afraid of you, but that was scary. You honestly looked like you might chop off his fingers!" Sakura shuddered, imagining the blood gushing from the severed appendage. Although on the way to becoming an admirable medic, she still despised the thought of blood.

"He certainly believed it, but I would've waited until we got him back to Konoha and had Ibiki deal with him. Even if he called my bluff, just randomly maiming someone doesn't really hold any appeal." She said, tucking her kunai away as she talked. The guy was helpless, how could she be expected to hurt someone who couldn't even defend themselves? It just screamed wrong to her ears, and she heeded that call.

Around this time, Idate chose to rejoin the land of the living, drawing attention away from her prisoner and the events that had just transpired. Naome stood and walked to tower over the prone boy, feeling a bit more understanding. No pity tainted her thoughts though, he wouldn't want that, and she didn't think she could bring herself to pity someone like him.

"Idate, I'm glad you're awake! Try not to move too much, you're still very weak." Sakura scolded him, using words for her own comfort as her patient's.

"Aoi, where is he?" The older boy asked, grunting in slight pain as he ignored the pinkette and tried to sit up.

"Sleeping in the corner." Naome answered, nodding in the unconscious man's direction. His light green hair draped over his forehead, shading his eyes so it left his true state of mind hidden. Only the tag attached proved to show his condition.

"Why is he still here?" Idate demanded, looking shocked and put out that someone he hated would be left breathing and within reach.

"He's a missing nin, but he has information about a new regime change in Ame that no one else has heard about." Naome shrugged, the prospect of new information was something that could not be ignored. Her natural curiosity was only a minor motivation, her wish to keep as little blood from staining her hands, a much larger one.

"We'll take him back to Konoha with us and deal with him accordingly there." She looked into his eyes, which hadn't left the older man's form. Those eyes that reminded her of herself, a few years ago, back when she had nothing but herself. If not for Hikaru, if not for Yurei, where would she be now?

"Now that you're awake, we can finish the race. It doesn't look like your opponent has finished just yet." She continued in a much cheerier tone. She wanted to dispel this unbearable tension, to make people more optimistic and to get everyone moving again, now that the rain had stopped.

"What's the point?" He grumbled quietly, mostly to himself, only now turning away and looking into his lap. In his hand, still tightly clenched, was his pocket knife. It must be precious to him, for his hand to hold it so close.

"The point? What about Jirocho?" She demanded, blindsided by his sudden defeatist attitude.

"It doesn't matter. The one time that I might've been of use to someone, and I let him down." His tone was broken, his head bowed. Naome felt anger boil over inside her, and she felt the whisperings of her conscience.

"He trusts you to win that race, are you betraying that trust?" She asked pointedly. Mission or not, personal or not, she would have nothing to do with a coward.

"Trusts me?" He repeated, doing a very good impression of a parrot. He looked as though the thought, one he'd already known, had never been entertained. As though someone trusting him was such an alien yet familiar concept that he'd been ignorant until it was pointed out to him.

"Of course he does! He trusts you, when you claim no one else ever has! Will you let him down?" The anger tinted her voice.

"It doesn't matter what anyone else says, even one person is enough of a reason to keep trying! Giving up now would only prove everyone right, and prove the one who matters wrong!" In other words, if he gave up now, everyone else would say it was expected. If he gave up now, Jirocho would be so disappointed.

"Right." He nodded his head, determination in his eyes. Naome smirked challengingly at him as he struggled to his feet, all but unaware of her teammates behind and beside her. She was too caught up in Idate's sudden growth.

"Let's get going then!" She ended up having to carry him part of the way, to the shrine in order to get his orb thing. From there though, he was recovered enough to run on his own, full pelt.

Naome had to really push herself to match his speed. She kind of wanted to see a race between this guy and Lee, but she wouldn't be able to see it anyway. They'd just be a couple of blurs vanishing in the sunset. Besides, Gai and Lee might somehow get Idate into a spandex suit. Two green beasts were more than enough.

Idate made it with a second to spare, the red tape across his chest as he tried to slow himself down. His momentum and the weakness still in his body nearly made him fall end over end, but he caught himself. He didn't want to look like a fool in front of boss Jirocho.

"Well done Idate." Naome nodded in satisfaction, waiting for her teammates to catch up while she tried to ignore the pain in her legs. She made a mental note to work on her sprinting, since that really shouldn't hurt as much as it did. She felt like she pulled something important.

Ibiki Morino just _happened_ to be on a completely unrelated mission in the same area so he _kindly_ stopped by to give them a lift home. Naome didn't buy his explanation in the slightest, after all she _knew_ there was a black vortex where his heart should be. She didn't say anything though, because a free ride home was sounding pretty good since this mission had just been one thing after another.

Besides, she got a chance to turn over Aoi to Ibiki earlier than she thought, meaning no having to personally escort the prisoner all the way back to Konoha. Carrying him over such a distance would've only chewed through more chakra and slowed them down. She wanted to see her babies again!

"You should've demonstrated your seriousness by roughing him up a bit more." She had given a detailed report of the interrogation, so he was critiquing it. So far, he'd found several flaws in her technique and had berated her on each of them, whilst simultaneously showing her the methods she _should've_ used on the pale as paper Ame nin.

She had _tried_ getting Ibiki to go easy on the guy, like she'd promised, but that worked about as well as expected. Ibiki had promised that his end would be merciful so long as no lies were detected. Aoi ended up lying anyway. She did feel bad about it, but tore the thought out by reminding herself that he was a traitor.

Having a chance to herself on their run back home, she looked over to see how Sasuke and Sakura were faring. Sasuke looked like he was trying to absorb the lesson without being too forward about it, seeming a little interested in the art although she could still see some unease. Sakura was doing her utmost best to ignore it though. Which made sense; she wanted to be a medic so the abuse of a prisoner didn't sit well with her. She was meant to heal, not hurt-others-when-they-were-helpless.

Naome thought back to the moment when the brothers met again. They were boarding Ibiki's ship to head back to the mainland, and Idate had stood uncertainly near the plank. He had called out to Ibiki, calling him aniki.

"The only one who ever called me that died a long time ago." The words had sounded cold, like Ibiki didn't care one way or the other. Something must have passed in their stare though, because Ibiki turned away with a small smile. His shoulders slumping just a bit, giving her the impression a weight had just been relieved.

"How dare you hide such a cute girl from me?" Yoshino had seemed a little uncertain about Yurei when they were dropped off. She knew Hikaru, his temperament, but Yurei was someone she had never met. The five, almost six, year old with white hair had been equally worried about their stay with the Nara family.

Yoshino had forgiven her for the tricks and the lies. Naome had a friendship that felt a bit awkward now, and she wasn't sure what to do. Ran and Yoshino were adults, they could talk as equals. They talked about civilian matters, about their children. Naome had the same personality, more or less, but she was a chunin of Konohagakure. She was a shinobi, first and foremost. They exchanged looks that showed that neither was truly sure how to go about this new situation. Suddenly Yoshino's friend Ran was actually Naome, her son's boyfriend. They really didn't know how to handle the change with grace.

"Kaa-chan!" Naome accepted the two tackle hugs and gratefully swept them up. Hikaru seemed to have grown just a bit; his shorts were getting a bit tight too. Yurei had gained a little weight as well an she smiled more often.

"How are my kids? Were you good for Yoshino-san?" She greeted them happily. Standing a little nervously in the doorway was her favorite pineapple haired shinobi. Naome looked up and felt her face begin to strain not to laugh.

Shikamaru had apparently been on the receiving end of a makeover. His hair was still in its usual tie, but there were ribbons hanging from it, and a flower on top. His lips were painted a garish red and his cheeks were covered sloppily in rouge. His eyelids, she saw, were a dark purple. To complete his look were the sparkles, falling off whenever he moved yet stubbornly sticking to every surface.

"Yurei wanted to play dress up." He mumbled, not even having the heart to throw in a troublesome. Naome took a deep breath, coughing as she tried to regain her composure and _not_ laugh at her boyfriend. Catching the mischievous glint in her daughter's eyes though, she couldn't contain it any longer.

"Ahahahaha!" She burst out, doubling over in weakness as she tried to memorize her boyfriend's new look.

"Shika-kun…Heh…is there something you want to tell me?" She spluttered, mentally promising that this would be the next work on her easel. She was going to immortalize that look!

"Troublesome girl." He grumbled, wiping ineffectively at the makeup on his cheeks.

Naome had to send some bunshins first to tidy up the unlived in house, a couple to replace the contents of the fridge. She had the day to herself as she wasn't expected for anything until tomorrow. The day was young, and they all decided a day at the park was well within their rights.

Yurei was able to make a friend, her first since moving to Konoha. It was a young Aburame boy, probably one of Shino's cousins. His name was Shinto, he wore the same style of dress as the older members of his clan, and was quiet and thoughtful. Yurei swore up and down that he was the best listener ever and that his bugs were the coolest thing.

Camie Aburame was the boy's mother, and Naome struck up a more or less comfortable conversation with the older woman while Shikamaru was helping Hikaru on the slide.

"Why did you choose to adopt Yurei-san?" Camie asked formally from within her trench coat and behind her sunglasses. Naome wondered what an Aburame's eyes looked like.

"When I first met her, she never smiled. I wanted her to learn how to smile honestly." Naome answered cryptically. She was her daughter.

"I see." They sat in silence; Naome felt the stress of the previous mission drain away while she watched her kids play. Eventually they decided to go to Ichiraku's for dinner, Shikamaru separated from them, and they went to bed.

She didn't waste any time to dig out her painting supplies. Although she had to hold off on the actual painting, as she had to get up early, she did sketch the basics. Satisfied for now, she leapt into her queen sized bed and clutched her pillow close to her chest. It was good to be home.

The next day as team leader she turned in the mission report, explained everything to Tsunade-baba since the mission was A-rank, and left the tower on her way to work. After her first solo interrogation she was more certain than ever that this wasn't the place she wanted to spend the next few years. Border patrol had to be better than this, lucky Shika.

Once more in her uniform she met with Ibiki, who promptly ordered her to stay silent and follow him. They made the rounds, aiding any of the nin who were having trouble getting their prisoner to talk. Everyone in these cells were people who had tried to infiltrate Konoha, either as spies to leak information or as part of a mission to steal something.

There were nin from every village she could name, and several who's names escaped her. Men, women, even a few people her age were being held down here. Seeing all the worn faces made her feel just a bit sick and she fought for some control over herself. If she felt any sympathy towards these spies and traitors, she was careful to keep it hidden.

"Prisoner K2Y summarize all experiments started by Orochimaru within the previous six months and your predictions about them." Ibiki ordered in his cell. Kabuto looked very different now. He had obviously lost weight, his hair had been shaved and he had a beard growing. His eyes were haunted, following every little movement they made like he expected to be hit.

She listened to Orochimaru's plans, which involved kidnapping Sasuke soon. Apparently he _still_ didn't know that she had removed his seal before it settled. He planned to send four shinobi after him to convince him to willingly betray Konoha, which took a certain amount of willpower to resist laughing at. He was a lot of things, loyal was one of them.

"The strongest is Kidomaru, he has a bloodline that gave him six arms and has an ability to create a metal alloy to manipulate how he likes, either as weapons or as a shield. He has a summons with spiders and uses thin webs to figure out when people are sneaking up on him." He reported in a monotone. Naome wondered why she was present for such an important interrogation.

"Sakon and Ukon are Siamese twins who are able to separate for a short period of time. They can also fuse with other people, to prevent being injured." That one was a little creepy.

"Tayuya is the girl of the group, with long red hair. She carries no other weapons but the flute she uses to cast her genjutsu. Just hearing it will have you under her control. She has a summoning contract with Ogres and uses her flute to control them." Ogres had summoning contracts? Was there a summoning contract for nature spirits too? Where could she get one?

"Jirobo is the weakest member, he can absorb chakra from other people and even from their techniques." He sounded like the easiest one to deal with. If she had to go against him depending on the rate of absorption she shouldn't have too much trouble. It would have to be someone with a lot of chakra to burn anyway.

"At times they are joined by a fifth member who is stronger than all of them, Kimmimaru Kaguya. However he has a bloodline related disease and is due to die soon." He didn't know that she had killed Kimmimaru already. He didn't need to know either.

"All of them have the curse mark and the second level of the curse mark. After using the second level for a certain period of time they must stop and recharge." Second level of the curse mark? She was slightly curious, slightly concerned. The original curse mark had a one in ten chance of survival. What rate of survival did the level 2 version have?

The only one of those people still alive was Kidomaru, as far as she knew. That meant his information was out of date. Ibiki had to know that too. When a prisoner's information was out of date and they held no intention of trading him, that prisoner's time was up.

"Naome, go to room 82B." She didn't try to stick around, already halfway out the door. She knew room 82B was a room used for kunoichi in T&I and she wondered if she'd be learned the art of seduction. She couldn't decide if she wanted to or not but she couldn't argue.

Room 82B was a lounge area where several kunoichi were lounging in clothes that revealed a bit more skin than Naome was comfortable with. It reminded her more of a brothel than a room of deadly kunoichi. Did Ibiki call in a bunch of hookers to teach her?

"Naome Uzumaki, nice of you to join us." A woman with long raven hair looked her over, obviously displeased with the uniform. None of these women wore it, instead wearing shorts that barely covered the top of the thighs and were left unbuttoned and skin tight tops of various colors with a plunging neckline that showed off a fair amount of cleavage.

"First off, let's get you some clothes that will really show off your figure. You did well with this ugly uniform but really, nothing can be done with drab grey." She tried not to take offense or show embarrassment as she was forced to strip in front of them. Naked as the day she was born she was overly conscious of her meager breasts in comparison to every other woman.

"A bit young but there are still some old men who look for the vulnerable wraiths look." A brunette tut-tutted, staring unabashedly at the hands covering her hands and her legs crossed to block the view below her waist.

"Look at her tits! She'll be a bombshell when she grows up!" Naome seriously wondered if this was actually Jiraiya in disguise.

"Well Naome-chan, welcome to the Seduction Corps. Only a few kunoichi are ever accepted and you fit the cut." She didn't think that was really something to be proud about, but it made her feel better to be accepted by these women.

"I'm Akira honey." The raven haired woman introduced herself. Her hair was unruly, looking a bit like a bed head that managed to look sexy. Her hip was cocked and her eyes were a sultry smoke color.

"The brunette there is Ryuka Abashi, the tallest one is Nadoka Rantone and in the corner is Cona." All the women were astonishingly beautiful and they seemed to have been born without shame glands. Naome once believed herself to be above embarrassment over her appearance, but standing naked in front of these women was wreaking havoc on her self-esteem.

"First things first, we're helping you get over your fear of being exposed and teaching you how to talk dirty." Naome had an insane urge to turn and run out of the room and back home as fast as she possibly could, with or without her clothes. The look Akira was sending her was worrying on all sorts of levels.

The 'training' was sure to leave her with a permanent blush. She'd had no idea that there were _jutsu_ to be used in the bedroom. She was shocked at herself for thinking about Shikamaru when she found them. She knew she wouldn't be able to look him in the eyes.

First, they told her with the utmost seriousness that she would never wear clothing in room 82B unless they gave her express permission. This was to help her get rid of any embarrassment over her naked form in front of others. Second, she had to think very carefully about anything she said when in room 82B.

The reason for that one was because everything she said, every word, had to have a double meaning. They conditioned her to spouting innuendos and other dirty things when in their presence.

She went home with a tinge to her cheeks. She picked up Yurei and Hikaru and on a whim decided to see Shikamaru. Earlier she'd said she wouldn't be able to look him in the eyes, and now she was watching him run around the training ground, doing laps. Evidently team ten had said something Asuma disagreed with.

"Kaa-chan, what are we doing on the Kyuubi festival?" Yurei was excited about her first festival. Naome remembered last year and shuddered. She had never been so scared in her life.

"Right, your birthday is coming up in a week." Chouji grinned, having finished his laps and taking a spot nearby.

"Kaa-chan's birthday?" Yurei repeated, wondering what that had to do with the festival.

"Hai, my birthday is the same day as the festival Yurei-chan!" Naome told her. Her twelfth birthday to be exact, as she was the youngest in their age group. She didn't have any real plans this year, although she could think of a few things she wanted to do.

Unbeknownst to anyone else in that training ground, she had a bunshin doing something very important elsewhere. She had made it while on the go, with a small piece of paper in its hands.

_Bunshin's POV, Danza's House._

Naome was let in to his house and she noticed that he didn't seem all that surprised that she'd shown up. She wanted to know about that pale skinned boy, she wanted to learn more about the enigmatic Danzo. She didn't trust him enough to come in person though.

"I'm pleased that you took me up on my invitation." He greeted her, leading her to a drawing room so they could sit down to some tea.

"You piqued my interest." She shrugged, accepting the drink but not lifting it to her lips. She didn't trust him.

"Let us be blunt Uzumaki, I haven't laced your drink with anything." Gone was the carefully polite old man, standing before her was an old shinobi. To get old in the shinobi world took something more than strength.

"If we're being blunt, I'll state that you haven't earned my trust." She replied in turn, the polite smile falling from grace to be replaced with a look of healthy skepticism.

"Wise of you, as I have done nothing to earn it." He looked approving.

"So why don't we get to the main reason for my visit? Was the boy an ANBU?" That had been her first thought when she had begun connecting the two. Danzo probably ran the ANBU corps and the boy was a member, although he looked just to be her age.

"Not ANBU, he belongs in an ANBU Unit called Ne. I am its founder and leader." She had never heard of Ne but that didn't mean much. She didn't know a lot about ANBU except that it existed and the members wore animal masks.

"…Why are you telling me this?" She didn't know what she'd done to deserve such information. It didn't have anything to do with her. There was no reason to let her in on the joke.

"I have seen potential in you, Uzumaki." He inhaled the steam from his tea cup, bringing it to his lips.

"In Ne the operatives are trained nearly from birth not to feel any emotion at all. They are the epitome of shinobi." Her lips pursed together slightly in interest, while inwardly she was thinking about all the powerful nin who had believed that to be the 'epitome of shinobi'. She remembered all the times they'd been proven wrong. They weren't shinobi, they were just weapons with faces.

"I can't help but think you're telling me this because of my children." She said quietly. He wasn't taking Hikaru or Yurei from her, if that's what he thought.

"I hold no such intentions; I know that you would not allow it and I have no means to keep a kage bunshin prisoner to keep you from relaying my plans to the original, who is most likely with the children right now." She was visibly surprised. Normally no one would realize that she was a kage bunshin and not the original. He knew she didn't trust him though, so maybe he guessed that she wouldn't trust him by coming as herself?

"So if you aren't after my children with their advantages, why are you telling me these things? Surely I'm too old for this conditioning." She asked curiously, neither admitting nor denying her existence as a chakra construct.

"I am an old man Uzumaki, and I am wise enough to know my ambition to become Hokage is unlikely. The next generation will always wrest control from the previous one." He studied the girl in front of him, the kage bunshin of the girl. She had steel to her eyes more commonly seen in the shinobi that survived numerous high ranked missions.

Everything about her posture said she was ready to defend or attack, although she looked the most prepared for simply running. She was on edge around someone who she didn't trust. He had noticed that whenever he'd met her around her children she had subtly nudged them to a position slightly behind her, where they'd be easily defensible.

This was a child, yet she was a kunoichi. She measured the things she said and she clearly put a lot of thought into whatever she was doing. She was powerful even now, and would only become more so as time wore on. Such raw talent, if only he'd been able to have her when she was still a baby, then Konoha would have the most supreme weapon.

As it stood, he meant what he'd said. He was old, getting older, and the new generation was over taking his. Hiruzen had retired for the second time now; Tsunade Senju wasn't likely to leave the position any time soon. Even now it was abundantly clear who she intended to relinquish that hat to when her time came.

Naome didn't have the totally idealistic views that typically came with the Will of Fire but she also didn't have his jaded views on power. She was the best of both worlds and the results spoke for themselves. She was the strongest of her generation and getting stronger. She was under the tutelage of Ibiki Morino, the best in his field.

"One day I will die, when I do I need someone to take control of Ne. I am interested in grooming you for that position." He finished, barely half a second having passed from the start and end of his musings.

"Why pick me? There isn't anyone else you'd trust with that?" She asked him, honestly curious.

"I can't say why I chose you over someone more experienced, only that I have." He told her, not quite lying not telling the truth.

"If I refuse?" She asked in a challenge. He could see that it was a test though, and he rose to pass it.

"Then you hold me in a delicate position. Officially, Ne does not exist. It was disbanded by your precious Sandaime Hokage years ago." She couldn't hide the surprise on her face this time.

"You could utterly ruin me just by dispelling yourself, leaving the original to report to him and Tsunade-hime." She could do that, heck she really should be doing that. The only reason she wasn't was because she wanted to hear the full story, she wanted to know first and foremost why he had chosen her instead of someone unquestioningly loyal to him.

"I have chosen you _because_ you are not loyal to me. I don't enjoy admitting this but the Will of Fire and its believers are the leaves that bathe in the sunlight, while I and Ne are the roots that grow in the shadows." What he said struck a chord with her, she did not show it.

"All I ask is that you be a strong leader, capable of doing the things that must be done to protect the great tree from falling." Now what was he going on about? Sandaime Hokage-jiji had the title of Kami no Shinobi, he was about as strong as strong can be!

"Sarutobi is physically strong and his mental capacity is as impressive as ever. However his heart has weakened with age, he no longer takes the darker missions, thus earning our reputation as the 'soft' hidden village." She had an idea about those darker missions. Things like assassinating foreign daimyos would look bad on their record. Less people would want to associate with assassins. To civilians Konoha looked like a village of supremely trained body guards than anything else.

"You are able to do the things that must be done as a true shinobi would." He praised her, a slight inclination of the head. Not enough for a nod but just enough to show a grudging respect.

"When I first learned of your greatest deception I was amazed. You didn't look like you could be very good at hiding your true capabilities, and yet you were able to trick an S-ranked missing nin and gained Konoha some valuable intel." She couldn't tell if he was praising her sneakiness or degrading her for her appearance not matching with the ideal shinobi picture.

"I would be remiss if I couldn't read the signs. You are well versed in having to do what it is necessary to protect what you consider yours. That is why I chose you." Naome put her now cold tea back on the table and flared her chakra sense, becoming aware of their company.

"Do me the honor of meeting me in three days' time in training ground 44. The real you." She recognized the dismissal and bid him a good evening before popping out of existence.

Naome had a tense night, curled up in bed and listening to the sounds outside. Every so often she would hear the near silent thud of a foot on her roof that marked a shinobi's passing. The kids were in bed asleep but she couldn't seem to close her eyes. It would be a long night.

She needed to research dispelling genjutsu if she couldn't perform it, she needed to work on her second affinity some more, she needed more strength and speed training. She needed to teach Yurei how to read, prepare her to be admitted into Starter Academy, where they taught all the basics and where kids made the decision between civilian and shinobi. She needed to find Hikaru a way to socialize with kids his own age. Such a long list of things to do.

The next day was one of her day's off but she couldn't bring herself to enjoy it. Today she was working on a way to quietly commit suicide. Her kids were off with two separate bunshins now, and she wasn't due to see Shika until dinner time when he was taking her out on a real date. So for now she sat herself down in the bedroom and forced herself to buckle down and figure out how to do this.

She made a seal using the kanji for death, quickly and silence. It had to be activated without handseals, but couldn't be accidentally activated whilst on the field. It had to be small enough that it couldn't be seen when it activated, otherwise a fail-safe might activate. This was a seal that she would activate if she was ever captured and it felt like she might break.

It couldn't be removable. It must activate regardless of chakra amount. There were so many restrictions on what she could do with this thing. The method of death had to be quick, and unstoppable. It had to be painless, so nothing in her posture would alert her guards when she died.

She applied it to the top of her foot. The bottoms of feet were checked for seals on capture, so it was the best she could afford. When the seal activated it would immediately send a concentrated spike of chakra to block the tenketsu leading to the brain, killing her in an instant. It had the same effect as snapping a neck, without the resulting crack.

When that was done she started a search a member of team eight. Kurenai was a genjutsu specialist so she should be able to help with her dispelling techniques. If nothing else she could throw genjutsu at Naome until she bullied her way through.

Kurenai still did not know about Ran being Naome. This complicated things none at all since she wasn't asking for a favor as a friend, but as a fellow leaf kunoichi. Funnily enough, approaching the bandage wearing woman she discovered that she was accompanied by Asuma. She didn't want to interrupt.

"You want to work on dispelling genjutsu?" Kurenai repeated. Team eight was apparently having a day off as well, since the genin were nowhere to be found.

"Hai, genjutsu is my biggest weak spot so I figured since I couldn't manage to make it work, I could make sure it doesn't work on me!" She explained.

"It's good that you recognize a potential weakness. I can spare a couple hours, so let's see what you can do." The skill level test was embarrassing. She could barely figure out when the genjutsu was passed, let alone what was needed to break it. Mostly she resorted to the tried and true pain method, which quickly meant her lips were very sore from biting into them.

"Your chakra control is barely average, and you have a lot of it, so it's harder to completely stop the flow of your chakra to cancel a genjutsu." Kurenai explained after the fifth failed attempt to stop a genjutsu without maiming herself.

"So what? I have to always bite through my lip to get out of a genjutsu?" Naome groaned, her lips throbbing in agony at the very thought.

"You could use bobby pins, a few kunoichi I know use pointed pins in their hair and adjust them when they suspect a genjutsu." The red eyed woman suggested. Bobby pins weren't usually what she'd wear, but she could follow that same principle and find something similar! Since she healed so fast she could even just take a kunai and slash her hand if she was desperate.

With three hours to spare before date preparation would commence, Naome now tried to locate one shinobi she knew would give her a real fight in a taijutsu spar. She only hoped she could recover fast enough afterwards so she wasn't too tired during the date.

Lee would've kept her working until far past her exhaustion point, plus he was still recovering from some life threatening surgery to repair his spine. So Naome went looking for the Hyuuga of team Gai, Neji. Hopefully he wasn't still sore about losing to her in the third round.

"Uzumaki, is there something you need?" He and Tenten had apparently been training together, which made Naome hesitate from leaping from the trees because she lacked a desire to be a human pin cushion.

"Well, you looked busy and I don't want to bother you." She answered from the trees. During the chunin exams she'd been out for blood, to avenge Hinata. That was in the past though, and personally she didn't like holding grudges.

CHAPTER END BECAUSE I CAN'T KEEP TYPING TWENTY THOUSAND WORDS PER CHAPTER!

LC; It's done, be happy there's anything at all.

Naruto; She's in a bad mood because she realized that she _still_ hadn't updated this. She procrastinated too much.


	11. Overtaking Everyone

LC; Okay, now to buckle down and seriously type this up. No slacking off!

Naruto; Now taking bets to how long before she takes another 'break'.

Sasuke; I'll put down a thousand yen on thirty minutes.

Naruto; PFfft! Please! She won't make it to the fifteen minute mark!

LC; *In emo corner* You guys are so mean to me. Bullying me like this. I'm not THAT bad, am I?

Disclaimer; No ownage found here.

Chapter 11: The Beating of Wings.

Naome dodged the first few strikes, but she recognized that she couldn't do that forever. Unlike in the exams, this was a full on taijutsu match. She jabbed with her left, forcing him to hang back as she twisted into a powerful middle kick that he blocked.

He'd improved since their last battle. He was faster, his blows ever more percise and filled with more power. She deflected one strike and managed to land a blow into his upper stomach. He jumped back with the blow though, so the damage was minimal.

"You've been busy." She commented mildly. He nodded wordlessly, taking his stance again. This time it was him dodging her blows, trying to find the opening he needed to take the offensive.

"Jyuuken! Sixty eight palms!" He cried, rushing forward in a move she'd never seen before. His hands were a blur and even though she managed to dodge of deflect the first thirty three, soon the others were bludgening her body.

"Damn." She coughed, noting the taste of blood in her mouth. Her chakra was restricted now but that wasn't too bad an issue. She didn't really need to use it in this match, he wasn't fast enough to make her use chakra reinforcement in her muscles. Still fast enough to be a threat though.

After two hours they came to a halt, both well and truly exhausted. Naome thanked him for the spar and he nodded in turn, accepting a bottle of water from Tenten while Naome beat a retreat. She needed a shower and maybe something for the pain. Her muscles were going to be complaining about this one for days.

"Ready yet, troublesome girl?" She heard from the living room. The kids shouted in excitement and went down to meet their adopted tou-san while she finished brushing out her hair.

"Beautiful." He murmured when she walked down the stairs. He had Hikaru in his arms and watched her walk down the steps as a model walked down a runway. She was wearing a simple blue tunic and darker blue skirt that accentuated her curves while covering everything necessary. She hadn't bothered with make-up, save for a bit of conceiler. She was glad he approved.

Shikamaru was wearing neat slacks and a button shirt, enough to show that this night was different from others, but not too much as though he'd put undue effort into his outfit. Konoha's Laziest Shinobi through and through.

"Be good you two." Naome warned her children as she left them with a bunshin. They gave promises of good behavior and she stepped outside.

"So, where are we going?" She asked him once they started walking. It was getting a bit late now, the Sun was going to set in half an hour.

"We're having a picnic, even though it's troublesome to carry the food." He told her, showing the basket his mother had thrust into his hands as he walked out the door.

He led her to an empty field, near the outskirts of the village. There were wild flowers, and crickets were chirping softly. The Sun was setting the trees on fire, the flames licked the sky as it sank ever lower. Stars were beginning to appear.

The food was delicious, no doubt the work of Yoshino Nara herself. Naome was touched the woman trusted her enough still to let her date her son. Would she do the same for someone decieving her? Naome hoped she never had to find out.

"Beautiful." She heard Shika mumble after they finished the food.

"Yeah, it is." She agreed, looking up at the star streaked sky.

"I was talking about you, troublesome girl." She blinked in surprise when he was suddenly on her, his lips just touching her's as a silent plea for permission. She pressed her lips to his and they shared a kiss under the moonlight.

They didn't go any farther than kisses, though she wound up leaning back against him, her back to his chest with his arms around her waist. They leaned against a tree at the border of the clearing, just enjoying the cricket song and the starry sky. It seemed almost like a dream, the way everything was happening. She half expected for them to be interrupted, as they had a million times before.

In a stark contrast she found herself in room 82B again the next day, more and more sure that she needed to request a transfer. She didn't like this work, she just wasn't made for it. She could see the benefit of knowing it, but she also knew herself well enough to know that she'd never be able to use it to it's full potential.

That feeling was compounded when Ibiki announced that she'd be working on her own today, handing her a file on some Kiri missing nin that had been captured and then sent into the interrogation room. Ibiki watched through a two way mirror, and inside the chunin boy who wasn't any older than she was sat strapped to an uncomfortable chair with many sharp implements in view.

"Itsako of Kiri, ne?" She said lightheartedly. She tried to project an aura of trustworthiness.

"H-Hai." He was nervous and he kept fidgeting. His file said he was a mid-level importance in Chunin, but he had obviously not been part of their T&I. Or he was just very good at acting.

"I'm going to ask you a few questions, please answer honestly, I'm still new at this." He looked a mix of disbelieving, relieved, and put out. Probably because a new girl had been sent to deal with him instead of a proffesional. Naru wasn't just the new girl though, and if one counted the almost two years spent hiding her pregnancy and son, then she had more experience than some other members.

"So, why did you become a missing nin?" Kiri was in the midst of a civil war right then.

"Doesn't matter." At least he was answering, that was encouraging.

"Kind of does actually, since you've been captured. If you can tell us a bit of the situation in mist right now, then we might let you go. It's either that, or a drawn out death from the answers being tortured out." She pointed out, not looking at him and instead picking up one of the tools. It was a small saw that doctors used to remove casts, but the blade had dried blood on it.

"Either way, we'll find out what you know." She promised him, setting the tool back down and adding a distasteful look for good measure.

"...I couldn't sit back and watch Yagura kill people who didn't deserve it." It was mumbled, she almost had to read his lips to find out what he was saying. She leapt at the opening though, digging her fingers into the wounds and _twisting._

"Yagura? The Mizukage?" Mist didn't like bloodlines, that was probably the people Itsako was talking about. It didn't seem he had any of those bloodlines though.

"...If I tell you everything I can, will you let me go?" He had to bite his lip before he allowed himself to ask. He was scared, and alone in a foreign country, and although he'd heard rumors that Konoha was much more friendly towards kekkei genkai, he was still frightened.

"I can't make any promises if you lie or hold back information." She warned him.

"I joined the Mist Rebellion after running away from Kiri. It is led by a woman named Mei Terumi, who has two kekkei genkai." He went on to explain that they were fighting to take control of Mist in order to end the Bloody Mist era. He didn't have much information beyond what they were doing and the big names in it though, as he was just a chunin.

"Thank you for telling me this. I'm going to go talk to my superiors now, I'll see about putting in a good word for you." She assured him. Itsako bowed his head and wondered if he should be ashamed for breaking so easily. Was his life worth so much to him that he would betray the Mist Rebellion as he had Yagura? Did that make him weak or strong?

Perhaps the blood of the mist hadn't washed away completely.

"Not bad for your first time." Did Aoi not count? She thought she did rather well with him, considering.

"News about the Mist Rebellion has been as rare as hen's teeth and getting even this much is good." Ibiki went on, watching the slumped boy through the mirror.

"So, _can_ you let him go?" She asked curiously. If she had lied to that boy, the boy the same age as her, then what? She supposed she'd feel guilty and mourn his death, if not then should she be happy about that, even though he was a prisoner?

"...I think Tsunade will consent to it, especially if we can make contact with the Mist Rebellion." He let her go for the day after that and she decided to see Tsunade-baba herself about what she'd been thinking.

Naome decided to swing by Anko's place to pick up the kids, acting on one of her whims to take them out and splurge. She _sooo_ loved having money to spoil her kids with! Besides, she did still need to make doctor appointments. Tsunade-baba should probably be the one to look at Yurei-chan, considering that weird disease, and she would understand right away since she had met her father, Kimmimaru Kaguya.

"Hey Anko-nee, what'cha doing?" She sing songed when she walked into the snake mistress' apartment. It had been undergoing some changes as late, since the snake charmer was in her 22nd week of pregnancy. In fact she had been particularly fascinated with the fact her belly button was now an outtie.

"Trying to figure out how one baby became two. Stupid doctors not noticing the second baby until a month ago!" She growled, in one of her tempers and staring at her stomach, which Yurei was holding a hand to, in order to feel the kicks.

The doctors had congratulated her on the twins last month, and Anko had immediatly cursed Kakashi and his libido for putting her in this situation. She had been nervous enough before when she thought she'd only be getting one baby, but to end up with two _girls_ instead? That terrified her, to say the least.

"Don't blame the doctors Anko-nee, they can't help it." Naome chuckled. Hikaru was napping on the couch and Yurei happily let Naome have a turn feeling the babies. It was much more pleasant when she wasn't the one getting the pounding.

"Kakashi and I decided on names." She mentioned as Naome sent Yurei to get their things.

"Really? What?" She asked excitedly. It had been hard to find the best name for Hikaru, but she liked what she'd chosen.

"Amaya, Night Rain, and Kaminari, Thunder." The purple haired woman answered, rubbing her stomach thoughtfully.

"Hmm." She said noncomittably. She liked the sound of it, the names were very pretty. She couldn't wait to meet her nieces!

"Ne, Anko-nee, have you decorated the nursery yet?" She asked, looking at the shut door down the hall. Their apartment was a modest one, Kakashi could afford better, but it was large enough for a family.

There was a decent sized, though rarely used, kitchen. The living room was big enough to fit a couch and love seat, leaving room for a bookshelf of ICHA ICHA and a coffee table. Down the hall was the bathroom on the right, the nursery on the left, and at the end was the master bedroom, which had it's own bathroom. There was an extra room across from that too, at the moment it was being used for storage.

"I held off since I knew you'd want to paint it." She promised, downing another ice cream sandwhich. Ugh, she was getting to be big as a house! Stupid Kakashi for getting her pregnant!

"I think I'll have time for that day after tomorrow." Naome mumbled. She would need to buy more paint first, and she'd be too busy tomorrow anyway. Tomorrow she had an appointment with a scarred cripple.

The check ups went rather well, and she happily took her kids out to buy some sweets as rewards for behaving so well, even in the face of needles. Hikaru babbled away happily with his lollipop and Yurei skipped at her side, licking at an ice cream cone.

"Kaa-san, can I play with Shinto-kun today?" Yurei asked as they neared the park. Naome thought about it and agreed if they found the boy there.

"Uzumaki-san." Camie Aburame greeted her quietly.

"Aburame-san." Naome nodded in turn.

"Gaki, what do you want?" Tsunade grumbled as Naome swung in through the window. Usually Hokage-jiji was here as well, helping Tsunade get used to the job, but he was somewhere else today.

"I need to talk to you, about two things actually." Naome stated seriously, making Tsunade raise a questioning brow. She'd get her answers soon enough.

"First and most importantly, have you read my personal file yet?" She asked. Tsunade would need to know who Yurei is and why it was so important that Tsunade be in charge of this check up.

"I have, and I got to say, for snot nosed brat you have balls of steel." Sarutobi-sensei had briefed her on Naome's _unique_ circumstances. It was so hard to believe, and yet the results were right before her eyes. A physical, undetectable henge, a mother at ten, capable of decieving an S-rank missing nin.

"You remember Kimmimaru Kaguya, right? The bone man?" Tsunade nodded, she remembered Naome shoving a rasengan into his stomach from behind, and her almost dying in the process.

"Well, Yurei-chan is his daughter, and when Orochimaru sent her here he claimed that she hadn't inheritted his disease. I just want to make sure, so I'll be bringing her around later today. Sound good?" Tsunade sighed and rubbed her temples to stave off the headache. She merely nodded and made a notion for the blonde chunin to continue with the second order of business.

"I would like to request a transfer out of T&I." She looked up at the admission, inwardly highly pleased. She hadn't approved of Sarutobi's decision to send her there in the beginning, but she hadn't spoken out about it since she knew that Naome really did have a talent for that line of work. From Ibiki's reports on her Tsunade knew that she'd been doing really well, going as far as to get her first interrogation earlier that day.

Here Tsunade got just as serious as she did. She leaned forward onto her desk, holding her head up in her hands. Naome prepared herself for a refusal, simply based on the body language.

"I can't do that right now, not until you complete three solo missions under T&I." She explained. For a younge blonde girl? Those missions could be dangerous.

"I kind of figured." She sighed, wondering what sort of missions an interrogater might go on. Hopefully nothing involving the inhabitants of room 82B.

With that done, she made arrangements to bring Yurei in for a full check up the next day. Naome remembered what the next day was though, and she felt a hot flash of shame. She should've reported him a lot sooner. She should do it now, while she had the chance.

Except she could see where Danzo was coming from. He was on the far end of the Extremist side, but she recognized his thoughts. Maybe because she had always been a little jaded, courtesy of abuse at the hands of the people she now protected. Maybe because she hadn't been marked by wars that left her longing only for peace, as Hokage-jiji had. Or maybe she was just dark like that, and she should try to redeem her soul and report it now.

Except that she didn't, she agreed to the time and then left, stating that she wanted to take her kids out for ice cream.

The next day dawned hot and bright, and it was a day off. Danzo planned this well. Naome left a few kage bunshins lying around under henge, in case the primary one she had watching the kids and training popped. With that done and nothing else to do in order to stall for time, she set out for the forest of Death, training ground 44.

It was just like she remembered it, although this time it seemed a whole lot less intimidating. Probably because she wasn't expecting to meet an S rank missing nin in the foilage. She had grown stronger since she had last entered that forest, where she had transfered the unsettled Curse Mark from Sasuke to a slug that had promptly died from the affects.

She hopped over the fence and began a meandering route through the forest, since she wasn't sure where Danzo would be waiting for her. Her chakra sense was out but she didn't feel anyone. That made sense, why have super awesome incredibly loyal and illegal soldiers if they got caught from a simple technique like the chakra sense?

It unnerved her though, all the same. Maybe she had come too early, but Danzo hadn't set a particular time. She was in enemy territory with no idea which way to go or what the mission objectives were. This was the nightmare scenario from the academy. She almost wished she could remember what the senseis said about dealing with it, but she couldn't bring herself to care either way.

By chance or by design she found the same place they had holed up after that horrible encounter with Orochimaru. If she looked closely, she could still see a few weapons lying around, uncollected. She could see the remains of one of her patented Mystery Tags.

"You decided to take me up on my offer." She did not eep. That was improvement in her books.

"I'm only here to learn more, I haven't made any sort of decision yet." This could all be a trap. He could've been lying about Ne. He could be about to kill her.

"Very well, follow me." She did so, straight to a hidden entrance she never would have been able to find under normal circumstances. It was hidden inside a tree, literally. As in step into the trunk and fall down for a couple minutes to land in a giant base underneath. She took an appropriate four seconds to gape.

That boy was there, the same one she had seen in Orochimaru's lair. He was dressed like a mini-ANBU and held his mask in one hand, his face bland and emotionless. She looked at him for a few seconds as he began walking at his master's side as they began a tour of the underground facility.

"Do you have bases like this all through Konoha?" Naome asked quietly, as if breaking the silence of this base were taboo and she was comitting some grievous sin. She hated that feeling.

"If I do, you will learn of them later." She accepted it without pause as they passed numerous training rooms. Some of them had agents training, boys and girls younger and older than she was. She felt sick when she passed a room full of kids no older than Yurei.

She counted fifty off the top of her head, and that's just from the open doored rooms. Many more stretched out, and she was only seeing what Danzo allowed her to see. She still had so much to learn. Too many things required her attention.

"Of course, if you do accept this position, you will go through the same training as #56 here." He was saying. Naome assumed that #56 was the nameless boy trailing them, staying just a few steps behind her. If she tried to attack Danzo, he was in prime position to stab her in the back.

"Which would entail?" She prompted.

"Confidential." She could hear the smirk, even if he didn't deign to emote the same as mere mortals.

"Fine, keep the good stuff to yourself." She sighed, noting that they'd taken exactly three right turns and two left ones, going down a straight hallway for nearly five minutes. Always a good thing to remember where the exit was, although she was sixty percent sure that there had to be other exits.

Honestly, she was both sickened and impressed with what Danzo was doing. She hated herself a little for that, but she kept it hidden, sucked it up, kept a stiff upper lip. The training here was much more thorough than at the academy. Even these five year olds would prove much stronger than most third year academy students. In another year? They'd be ready for genin.

She saw a three year old boy crying, and her inner mama bear roared in protest as the child was fiercely scolded by the nurse maid. She wanted to hold that boy until he had no more tears left, she wanted to bundle up every single child in that building and take them home with her.

She couldn't though, because they weren't loyal to her, they were loyal to Danzo. He was too strong for her to kill, and there were more of them than she could see. There was also the issue that she liked the strength they were showing.

She'd read up on the statistics in her spare time. Konoha strength was waning. Without the urgency, more and more often children were choosing the civilian school rather than the academy. And the genin the academy churned out were in desperate need of a wake up call and an ego smasher, Konoha was entering a decline thanks to the still relatively new concept of childhood innocence.

It wasn't a bad idea, in fact she thought it went a long way to creating more stable shinobi. She liked watching her children laugh and play, and she felt as though they would need those fond memories for after becoming shinobi. She wanted them to be happy. She wanted them to be strong enough to protect themselves. Finding a balance between the two was difficult and Hokage-jiji and Danzo were on opposite sides of extreme.

"What level would you say my age group is at?" She asked him when they finished the tour and had retired to his private office. There were shelves cram packed with scrolls and _two_ Ne secretaries doing paperwork. The Hokage only got _one!_

"#56 is the same strength level as you, high chunin." She shot a glance at the mini-ANBU boy, she couldn't force herself to call him by a number, not in her own mind.

"Have you made your decision?" He asked, accepting some tea from one ANBU masked woman. These masks were different from ANBU though, the masks weren't animals, just blank faces. They didn't seem human, certainly didn't act like it.

"...I'll agree." Her fate sealed, she now had to live by her word. She was a ninja, and sometimes ninja lie, but she was a human and a mother too. Mothers told all sorts of lies to protect their children.

Training began right away. A punishing regimen, focusing mainly on strength and speed. She was given scrolls to memorize, with jutsu and anatomy knowledge. A map of the base, with promises that if she proved worthy she'd be introduced to the others, answering her earlier question.

56 was also assigned as her personal guard and escort, her training partner first and foremost. She was led to a dojo like room and Danzo instigated a taijutsu battle. No jutsu, no weapons. Pure hand to hand with a boy who'd been seriously training since he learned how to walk.

He was fast, his pale skin almost flashed and she blinked, then suddenly his fist was nearly plowing into her nose. She latched onto his wrist, turning with the force of the blow as it slid past her. Her right leg entangled his left, leaving him unsteady but he did not stumble and fall as most other enemies did. He went with her motion, using the unforgiving hold she had to hoist her by her own pertard.

Twisting in a way she'd never seen a boy do before his foot was suddenly buried into her gut. She recognized the blow for what it was and released his wrist, snatching his ankle instead and using his unsteady position to move closer. A grappler's style had always held her in good stead.

The take and give of the fight went on for a few minutes, moving at a punishing speed that she knew she couldn't keep for long. Mini-ANBU was more used to being pushed beyond physical limits though, and landed a few heavy hands.

The spar didn't stop even when there was a clear winner. Naome took a strike to the throat that would've killed her in real life but except for being given exactly thirty seconds to catch her breath, she was back into the fray. It was very different than anything else she'd ever done before.

Well, not everything. Her training with kage bunshin pretty much took away any risk of seriously hurting her training partners, since they went pop after one hit and she could always just make more. Normally she didn't apply potentially damaging techniques in a one on one fight though, since all of her one on one spars had been with friends.

This wasn't a friend, but he wasn't an enemy. At the same time, she didn't trust him enough to even label him as an ally. He had replaced the mask on his face now, and if she ignored the whole _fighting back_ thing, she could almost pretend he was just a practice dummy. Almost, because practice dummies didn't make little grunts of pain after a particularly good hit.

After the 'spar' Naome was given two minutes to memorize the base map, blindfolded, and carried to some distant corner with the instructions to find Danzo's office. Two minutes of prep time wasn't nearly enough and she was completely lost in seconds.

She found the office by asking for directions. The older woman gave them to her and she arrived in the office five minutes after being left. Even Danzo was surprised, and asked how she had convinced the woman to give her directions.

"I henged into one of the random mini-ANBU you have here, with some extra details like cuts and scrapes and a cracked mask to give the impression that I had just returned from a mission." She thanked Ibiki for all his work on helping her read people's body language and the infetestimal twitches in a shinobi's face that revealed their emotions. Danzo looked like christmas had come early this year.

After that came so many other things that Naome worked on autopilot just to get home and collapse into bed. Sixteen hours of non-stop training and memorization. At least not every day would be like this, just the ones where she could get away without being caught. She was expected to show up at least twice every week and to train during her free time as well. Naome's life had just taken a turn for the busy.

She hadn't had such a demanding schedule since she got pregnant! Worse too, because the academy was set up so after getting her grades up a bit she could relax. No relaxing for her, just missions.

On the bright side, tomorrow she was getting her first mission from T&I. A nice comfortable C-rank, a paid vacation.

Okay, so with her luck she'd probably face a zombie Yondaime, but at least she wouldn't have to train while she was gone. Even if she'd much rather spend time with her children, she couldn't just stop accepting missions.

The mission was deceptively simple. Sneak into the quarters of the daimyo of the Land of Keys. Apparently the Hidden Lock village were making some noise as information collectors and needed to be reminded that Konoha was still the best of the best. Apparently their daimyo was making too much noise, getting too arrogant for the fire daimyo's tastes.

With her special henge, which she was considering getting a name for since saying special henge got annoying after a while, it should be easy. Except that she _had_ to be seen. Because the whole point of this was to get the Jomae village to acknowledge that their ninja were better. So she had to let their daimyo see her, the real her, so that the Jomae would be able to find a file on her so they'd know who they were dealing with.

She had to get in completely undetected and wake up the daimyo, then escape without being seen as well. So she could use henge up until getting to the daimyo, unhenge, and then rehenge easily. Simple, a piece of cake.

"Kaa-chan, why do you gotta go?" Hikaru asked while they were alone in his room, cleaning up.

"Ninja have to take missions Hikaru-chan." She explained sadly, smiling down at him. On impulse she picked him up, swinging him all around the room and swaying side to side, dancing to a beat only they could hear.

"One of these days you'll be taking missions and leaving poor Kaa-chan all alone." She whined, teasing her son.

"Besides, I'm not leaving just yet. I still have five days before my probation period ends and I can accept missions." Probation periods stunk, she wanted to hurry up and do the mission so she'd be a step closer to leaving T&I. She couldn't argue though, and besides, this meant she'd be here for her birthday.

"Love you Kaa-chan!" Hikaru gargled, out of breath from their spinning and interrupted by bursts of giggles.

"Love you too Hikaru." She promised, slowing down until they calmly swayed in the afternoon light coming from the window. She wanted to say it again and again, so even if she died tomorrow he'd always remember those words.


End file.
